Shipments from Alberta’s factory floors rose for the sixth month in a row in February. Compared to January, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales rose by 1.9 per cent to reach $6.1 billion.

Sales were down by 2.3 per cent compared to February 2020, but this is the lowest year-over-year gap since the pandemic began.

The negative impact of the pandemic on Alberta’s manufacturing sector peaked in May 2020 when sales were 32.4 per cent below where they were in May 2019.

The gain in February, however, was not evenly distributed across manufacturers.

Oil refineries, food manufacturers, and chemical plants posted strong increases compared to January while sales contracted in nine sub-sectors including non-metallic mineral products (e.g. cement, concrete, lime and gypsum), transportation equipment (e.g. truck trailers) and furniture.

Nationally, manufacturing sales were down by 1.6 per cent on a month-over-month basis and by 0.8 per cent compared to February 2020.

Answer to the previous trivia question: According to Oil Sands Magazine, four heavy oil producers, Suncor, Cenovus, Canadian Natural Resources and Talisman Energy (now Repsol), came together in 2004 and developed the Western Canadian Select (WCS) blend.

Today’s trivia question: How many gasoline-producing refineries are there in Canada?