Manufacturing sales across Canada declined 0.7% to $71.20 billion in December from November, according to the latest data released by Statistics Canada.
The December decline follows a 1.5% increase in manufacturing sales during November.
The drop at the end of last year was blamed largely on production slowdowns caused by retooling at some automotive assembly plants in Ontario.
Sales of motor vehicles declined 13.5% to $4.40 billion in December, the lowest level in a year.
Sales of chemical products also decreased, falling 3.1% to $5.40 billion, driven by a nearly 20% drop in sales of pharmaceutical and medicine products.
On the flipside, aerospace product sales rose 10.6% to a record $2.50 billion in December.
Total manufacturing sales in constant dollars across Canada were down 0.1% between November and December of last year
