Driven by strong petroleum product sales, the value of Alberta’s manufacturing shipments in September rose to their highest monthly level since January.

Seasonally-adjusted sales in Alberta rose by 4% to over $9 billion in September for a third monthly increase in a row.

Petroleum products sales were up by a solid 13% to $2.6 billion.

Sales of fabricated metal products such as reinforcing bars, windows and doors, and storage tanks also had a good month, rising by 14% to $726 million.

Plastic product sales were, however, down by 18% to $197 million and chemicals were off by almost 6% to $1.2 billion.

Despite the recent growth in the total value of shipments, year-to-date (YTD) sales are down 4% from last year’s record levels.

Nationally, manufacturing sales rose 0.4% to $72.8 billion in September with year-to-date sales up by 2%.

Answer to the previous trivia question: At 58.4% in 2022, Newfoundland and Labrador was the province with the lowest  labour force participation rate. Alberta had the highest rate at 69.8%.

Today’s trivia question: Which country is the world's largest manufacturer?