Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, January 2025
Released: 2025-03-14
Total manufacturing sales increased 1.7% to $73.0 billion in January, mainly on higher sales in the motor vehicle industry group (+11.1%) as well as the petroleum and coal product subsector (+4.7%). Chemical product sales declined the most, down 7.4% to $5.0 billion in January. On a year-over-year basis, total manufacturing sales rose 3.0% in January.
On a constant dollar basis, sales increased 0.9% in January, while the Industrial Product Price Index rose 1.6%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Motor vehicle industry leads monthly increase
Following a 4.7% decline in December, motor vehicle sales rebounded 11.1% to $5.0 billion in January, marking the largest month-over-month increase since March 2023. Sales of motor vehicle parts rose 5.8% from December to $2.9 billion in January. The gain in January is explained by operations resuming after planned winter shutdowns in December. In addition, higher sales of some electric vehicle models contributed to the gain. Total sales of motor vehicles in constant dollars rose 12.2%. Exports of motor vehicles and parts increased 9.0% in January.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector rose 4.7% to $8.7 billion in January, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The gain in January was primarily driven by higher prices of refined petroleum energy products (including liquid biofuels), as sales in constant dollars were up 0.5%. Increased demand for fuel due to cold weather conditions in Canada and the United States contributed to the increase.
Sales in the chemical product subsector fell 7.4% to $5.0 billion in January, the lowest level since June 2021. The decline was mainly due to maintenance shutdowns at some basic chemical plants as well as lower-than-typical seasonal sales of pesticide, fertilizer, and other agricultural chemical products. Year over year, total sales of chemical products were down 10.8% in January 2025. Sales in constant dollars fell 8.5% from December to January.
Sales increase in eight provinces, led by Ontario and Alberta
Sales rose in eight provinces in January, with Ontario and Alberta posting the largest gains, while Newfoundland and Labrador saw the most significant decline.
Sales in Ontario increased 1.7% to $31.1 billion in January, driven mainly by higher sales of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts. In the motor vehicle industry group, sales reached their highest level since November 2023, rising 12.6% to $4.6 billion in January 2025. The increase in January was widespread across all operating auto assembly plants in Ontario. Sales of motor vehicle parts rose 6.1% to $2.7 billion. On a year-over-year basis, motor vehicle sales in Ontario rose 0.8% in January, while sales in the motor vehicle parts industry group were up 0.2%.
Sales in Alberta rose 2.9% to $9.0 billion in January, the highest sales level since September 2023. The increase in January 2025 was largely driven by higher sales in the petroleum and coal (+4.9%) and food (+2.8%) product subsectors. These gains were partially offset by a 5.0% decline in chemical product sales. Year over year, total sales in Alberta were 8.2% higher in January.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, sales declined 26.9% to $329 million in January, entirely on lower sales of non-durable goods (-38.1%). Despite the decline, total sales were 11.7% higher on a year-over-year basis in January.
Total inventories increase
Total inventories rose 1.2% to $121.2 billion in January, on higher raw material (+2.1%) and finished product (+1.6%) inventories. Inventories of goods in process declined 0.6% during the same period. At the industry level, inventories of miscellaneous products (+29.1%), aerospace products and parts (+5.3%), and food (+2.5%) increased the most, while the machinery subsector posted the largest decline (-2.1%).
Chart 2
Inventory levels increase in January
The inventory-to-sales ratio fell slightly from 1.67 in December to 1.66 in January. This ratio measures the time, in months, required to exhaust inventories if sales remain at their current level.
Chart 3
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreases in January
Unfilled orders edge up
Total unfilled orders edged up 0.6% to $107.3 billion in January, on higher unfilled orders of aerospace products and parts (+2.2%). Meanwhile, unfilled orders in the primary metal subsector declined the most (-5.2%).
Chart 4
Unfilled orders increase in January
Capacity utilization rate increases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector increased from 75.9% in December to 79.6% in January. The most significant gains were observed in the transportation equipment (+12.6 percentage points), primary metal (+4.7 percentage points), and petroleum and coal product (+3.8 percentage points) subsectors. Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate of non-metallic minerals decreased 6.5 percentage points in January.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate increases in January
Focus on Canada and the United States
The United States is important for Canadian manufactured products, serving as Canada's largest export market. In 2024, Canadian manufacturers sold about half of their products to foreign customers, with roughly 80% of those exports going to the United States. The transportation equipment and food product subsectors were the top exporters. Notably, in 2024, Canadian transportation equipment manufacturers sold approximately two-thirds of their products to the United States, which accounted for roughly one-quarter of total exports of manufactured products to the United States.
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Sustainable development goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The Monthly Survey of Manufacturing is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Monthly data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars, unless otherwise specified.
Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Trend-cycle estimates are included in selected charts as a complement to the seasonally adjusted series. These data represent a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted time series and provide information on longer-term movements, including changes in direction underlying the series. For information on trend-cycle data, see Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Both seasonally adjusted data and trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and could even lead to a reversal of movement, especially for reference months near the end of the series or during periods of economic disruption.
Non-durable goods industries include food; beverage and tobacco products; textile mills; textile product mills; apparel; leather and allied products; paper; printing and related support activities; petroleum and coal products; chemicals; and plastics and rubber products.
Durable goods industries include wood products; non-metallic mineral products; primary metals; fabricated metal products; machinery; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment, appliances and components; transportation equipment; furniture and related products; and miscellaneous manufacturing.
Production-based industries
For the aerospace and shipbuilding industry groups, the value of production is used instead of the value of sales of goods manufactured. The value of production is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured. The value of production is used because of the extended period of time that it normally takes to manufacture products in these industries.
Unfilled orders are a stock of orders that will contribute to future sales, assuming that the orders are not cancelled.
New orders are those received whether sold in the current month or not. New orders are measured as the sum of sales for the current month plus the change in unfilled orders from the previous month to the current month.
Manufacturers reporting sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars
Some Canadian manufacturers report sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars. These data are then converted to Canadian dollars as part of the data production cycle.
For sales, based on the assumption that they occur throughout the month, the average monthly exchange rate for the reference month established by the Bank of Canada is used for the conversion. The monthly average exchange rate is available in table 33-10-0163-01. Inventories and unfilled orders are reported at the end of the reference period. For most respondents, the daily average exchange rate on the last working day of the month is used for the conversion of these variables.
However, some manufacturers choose to report their data as of a day other than the last working day of the month. In these instances, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent is used. Note that because of exchange rate fluctuations, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent can differ from both the exchange rate on the last working day of the month and the monthly average exchange rate. Daily average exchange rate data are available in table 33-10-0036-01.
Revision policy
Each month, the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing releases preliminary data for the reference month and revised data for the previous three months. Revisions are made to reflect new information provided by respondents and updates to administrative data.
Once a year, a revision project is undertaken to revise multiple years of data.
Real-time data tables
Real-time data tables 16-10-0118-01, 16-10-0119-01, 16-10-0014-01 and 16-10-0015-01 will be updated on March 21.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for February will be released on April 15.
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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