Sask. sales hit record in March
REGINA — Manufacturing shipments in the province reached $1.3 billion in March, a record for the month and an 8.6 per cent increase over $1.2 billion in March 2013, putting Saskatchewan second among the provinces for year-overyear growth, according to data released Thursday by Statistics Canada.
The largest year-over-year increases were seen in fabricated metal products, up 9.9 per cent; machinery, up 6.5 per cent; and chemical products, up 4.3 per cent. “The continued growth and record-setting trend that our manufacturing sector has seen demonstrates how diverse our economy truly is,” Economy Minister Bill Boyd said in a press release.
Saskatchewan manufacturing sales also posted “impressive” first-quarter growth of 9.8 per cent compared to the first three months of 2013, said Derek Lothian, executive director of the Saskatchewan Manufacturing Council.
Non-durable goods, which account for two-thirds of all manufacturing production, drove the majority of the sector’s first-quarter gains — jumping 13.4 per cent year-over-year. Durable goods, meanwhile, showed much more modest growth at just over three per cent.
“It is worth noting that two of the industries recording declines in 2013 — machinery (down 4.2 per cent) and fabricated metal (down 13 per cent) — each regained some traction in the first quarter, inching up 4.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively,” Lothian said in a press release.
However, between February and March, the value of Saskatchewan’s manufacturing sales dropped by $99 million, or 7.0 per cent, from $1.4 billion in February, the second-largest decline among provinces in dollar terms and the third-largest decline in percentage terms.
“As a result, we fell behind Manitoba in manufacturing sales,” said United Steelworkers economist Erin Weir in a commentary. Manitoba posted $1.34 billion in manufacturing sales in March. Statistics Canada’s last Labour Force Survey indicated that Saskatchewan’s manufacturing sector employed 29,300 people in April 2014, down from 32,000 in November 2007.