Manufacturing sales rebounded by 1.1 percent in April after contracting a revised 1.8 percent in March. The April bounce was close to the 1.2 percent rise expected. Real sales gained 0.4 percent on the month, which means a higher volume of goods was sold. In year-over-year terms, nominal sales were down 1.0 percent and declined 1.8 percent in real terms.

Looking ahead, indicators generally suggest further recovery, as new orders rose 3.1 percent on the month though unfilled orders fell 0.2 percent.

Inventories were down 0.2 percent, depressing the inventory-to-sales ratio to 1.71 in April from 1.73 a month earlier and 1.74 a year ago.

The unadjusted capacity utilization rate was flat at 78.1 percent in April from March and up from 77.6 percent a year ago.

In April, sales rose in 12 of 21 industries, led by transportation equipment, up 4.1 percent. The main driver there was autos, where sales rose 5.6 percent in April after a 7.9 percent drop in March. Other big movers were primary metals, up 4.7 percent, and chemical products, up 4.0 percent. That was partly offset by a decline of 6.8 percent in aerospace.

After falling 2.1 percent in a broad-based March decline, manufacturing sales in April are expected to rise 1.2 percent, in line with the preliminary estimate from Statistics Canada.

Manufacturing sales for twenty-one reporting industries are the Canadian dollar level of factory shipments for manufacturing durable and nondurable goods. Volume figures are also provided. The sales statistics form part of a wide monthly report that encompasses information on new orders, backlogs and inventories and is a key input into forecasts of monthly gross domestic product (GDP).

Manufacturer's shipments represent the monetary level of factory shipments for durable and nondurable goods and are a relevant indicator for an export-oriented economy. The data are used by analysts to evaluate the economic health of manufacturing industries. They are also used as inputs to GDP and needless to say, these data are used by the central bank in its decision-making process.

The monthly survey of manufacturing of which shipments is a part, provides a broad look at manufacturing activity levels. The level of activity in manufacturing can be affected by the level of interest rates which slows or stimulates the demand for goods and production. Shipments are an indication of how busy factories have been as manufacturers work to fill orders. The data not only provide insight to demand for items such as refrigerators and cars, but also business investment such as industrial machinery, electrical machinery and computers. Because a large proportion of shipments are headed south of the border to the U.S. and include a wide variety of durables, shipments are affected by U.S. economic activity as well as the exchange rate. Although the focus in this report is on shipments, it also contains information on inventories and new and unfilled orders.

Results from this survey are used by both the private and public sectors including finance departments of the federal and provincial governments, the Bank of Canada, Industry Canada, the System of National Accounts, the manufacturing community, consultants and research organizations in Canada, the United States and abroad.