Revenues from factory sales in Alberta picked up for the eighth straight month in May.

Supported by increases in durable and non-durable industries, the value of seasonally-adjusted manufacturing shipments posted a monthly increase of $109 million (+1.2%) to reach $9.5 billion in May.

Driven in part by the ongoing shortage of computer chips, national manufacturing sales fell 2.0% in May.

So far this year, the refined petroleum and coal products category has posted the strongest growth in both Alberta and in the country as a whole.

Through the first five months of the year, the rise in refined petroleum and coal product sales accounted for 60% of the total increase in manufacturing shipments in Alberta and 34% nationally.

Higher prices were the main factor with the dollar value of refined petroleum and coal product sales in Canada up by 81% while the implied volume of shipments increased by 15%.

The impact of soaring prices was also seen in other parts of the manufacturing sector including food products and chemicals.

Answer to the previous trivia question: According to Statistics Canada, rapeseed “was first grown in Canada as an emergency measure during the Second World War when European and Asian supplies were cut off.”

Today’s trivia question: How many manufacturing sector jobs are there in Alberta?