OTTAWA, Ont. Canada’s manufacturing inventories continue to rise. Big gains in raw materials (+1.3%) and goods-in-process (+1.7%) contributed to a 1.0% jump in total inventories to $65.8 billion in July, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

This marked the 18th increase in the last 19 months, and the highest level of inventories in four years.

"Popular demand for certain Canadian-manufactured models of motor vehicles, coupled with soaring petroleum prices contributed to the sharp rise in raw materials, which stood at $28.6 billion in July. Goods-in-process inventories also added fuel to the overall build-up in total inventories with robust successive increases since May," Statistics Canada commented in its Daily Bulletin.

Finished product inventories rose 0.4% to $22.2 billion. Finished products have been on an upward trend since the start of 2004.

The strength in the inventory build-up was split between nondurable and durable goods industries. Inventory gains were reported by the petroleum and coal products (+5.9%) and chemical products (+2.4%) industries, in addition to motor vehicles (+9.2%) and aerospace (+2.3%) manufacturing.