Canadian manufacturing sales fell for the second month in a row in February on weakness in the motor vehicle industry, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.
Sales dropped by 0.3% from January to $49.12 billion and was less than the 0.5% fall expected by analysts. Statscan revised January's decline to 1.3% from an initial 0.9%.
Motor vehicle assembly sales were down 8.7% from January, the first fall since June 2011, while motor vehicle parts sales were off 7.2%. Separately, Statscan said seasonally adjusted new motor vehicle sales in February fell by 6.7%.
Overall, sales fell in 11 of 21 industries, representing about 64% of manufacturing. Sales in constant dollars -- used to calculate moves in real gross domestic product -- dropped by 0.1%.
New orders increased by 2.5%, the seventh gain in nine months, while inventories were up 0.3%. The inventory-to-sales ratio edged up to 1.34 from 1.33 in January.
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