Manufacturing sales in Canada rose 2.5% to $53.7 billion in July, exceeding the previous record of $53.2 billion set in July 2008, Statistics Canada says.
The agency says the July gain was mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment and primary-metals industries.
Economists had expected a gain of 1%, according to Thomson Reuters.
Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales have been trending upwards since January. July sales were up 16 of 21 industries in, representing about 56% of the country’s manufacturing.
Transportation-equipment sales rose 10.3% to $10.1 billion in July, while primary-metal sales rose 4% to $4.2 billion.
In July, five industries reported lower sales, with food manufacturing reporting the largest decrease, down 1.4% to $7.9 billion.
