Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 0.7% to $56.4 billion in December, hurt by the motor vehicle assembly and the aerospace product and parts industries.
The agency declared Tuesday the decline was the fourth consecutive drop for manufacturing sales.
Economists had expected an increase of 0.5%. The nation's number crunchers said sales were down in 11 of 21 industries.
Sales of motor vehicles fell 6.8% to $4.9 billion in December due to lower production, mostly attributable to longer seasonal plant shutdowns and the closure of the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont. The aerospace product and parts industry decreased 15.7% to $1.9 billion.
