Alberta’s manufacturing sales continue to weaken

By ATB Economics 18 October 2019 1 min read

Shipments from Alberta’s factory floors fell for the third straight month in August. Seasonally-adjusted monthly sales were down by $4.7 million (-0.1 per cent) compared to July. On a year-over-basis, sales were off by $282 million (-4.3 per cent) compared to August 2018.

For Canada as a whole, sales increased by 0.8 per cent between July and August, but were down by 0.5 per cent compared to a year earlier.

Within Alberta, paper manufacturing has lost the most ground since last August with sales down by 27.9 per cent ($54.2 million). Primary metals were down over this period by 22.5 per cent ($41.5 million), and wood products were off by 20.1 per cent ($71.9 million). Our third largest sub-sector is chemical manufacturing and its sales were down by 19.3 per cent ($229.7 million).

On the positive side of the ledger were our two largest sub-sectors: year-over-year petroleum refinery sales rose by 5.6 per cent ($93.6 million) while food manufacturing sales went up by 4.1 per cent ($48.6 million).

The biggest jump occurred in the electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing sub-sector at 21.5 per cent ($13.5 million) followed by plastic and rubber manufacturing at 20.5 per cent ($28.7 million).

Need help?

Our Client Care team will be happy to assist.

Chat now
ATB Virtual Assistant
The ATB Virtual Assistant doesn't support landscape mode. Please tilt your device vertically to portrait mode.