The trajectory of Alberta’s manufacturing sector is exhibiting the same growing-again-but-still-playing-catch-up pattern at work in other parts of the economy.

After large drops in March (-10 per cent) and April (-19 per cent), the seasonally adjusted value of shipments from Alberta’s factories rose in May (+4 per cent) and June (+5 per cent).

Sales were, however, still down by 22 per cent compared to February when the economic effects of COVID-19 were not yet a factor.

Using February’s sales as a benchmark, the accumulated loss in sales over the March to June period was about $5.1 billion.

The improvement in June was led by gasoline and other petroleum product sales with higher prices at the pumps helping to boost sales in June by $135 million (+18 per cent). Food manufacturing also posted a large gain in June with sales up by $114 million (+10 per cent).

Subsectors that lost ground in June include machinery manufacturing, which was down by $55 million (-17 per cent) and paper manufacturing, which was down by $15 million (-10 per cent).

Nationally, sales in June rose by 21 per cent to reach $48.7 billion, but were still 13 per cent (-7.4 billion) below their pre-pandemic level in February.