Industrial capacity utilization rates, fourth quarter 2023
Released: 2024-03-08
78.7%
Fourth quarter 2023
-0.1 pts 
(quarterly change)
Canadian industries operated at 78.7% of their production capacity in the fourth quarter, down slightly from 78.8% in the third quarter.
Capacity utilization rate in manufacturing declines
The capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector fell 0.7 percentage points to 76.9% in the fourth quarter. This decline was mainly due to a slowdown in petroleum and coal product manufacturing (-4.7 percentage points) and chemical manufacturing (-2.6 percentage points).
Chart 1
Variation by industry, in percentage points, fourth quarter of 2023 compared with third quarter of 2023
The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector remains strong
Capacity utilization in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector continued its upward trend, with the rate rising 1.3 percentage points to 76.3% in the fourth quarter. This increase coincided with a rebound in oil sands extraction.
Conversely, the capacity utilization rate in construction fell 0.7 percentage points to 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Lower activity in engineering more than offset the increase in residential and non-residential building construction.
Chart 2
Industrial capacity utilization in non-manufacturing industries
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Note to readers
The industrial capacity utilization rate is the ratio of an industry's actual output to its estimated potential output.
This program covers all manufacturing industries, as well as forestry and logging; mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; electric power generation, transmission and distribution; and construction.
For non-manufacturing industries, the quarterly pattern is derived from the output-to-capital ratio series, the output being the real gross domestic product at basic prices, seasonally adjusted, by industry.
Data have been revised back to the first quarter of 2023 to account for revisions to the source data and new estimates from the statistical model.
Next release
Data on industrial capacity utilization rates for the first quarter of 2024 will be released on June 7.
Products
The data visualization product "Overview of the industrial capacity utilization rate: Interactive tool," which is part of the Statistics Canada — Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is now available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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