Canadian manufacturing sales ended 2017 on a down note, declining 0.3 per cent on a monthly basis after a nearly 4 per cent increase in November. The decline was the result of lower sales in the energy sector as well as declining sales in food manufacturing.  Sales were down in 11 of 21 manufacturing sub-sectors, representing 57 per cent of the manufacturing sector.  On a year-over-year basis, Canadian manufacturing sales were up 3.7 per cent over December 2016.

In BC, manufacturing sales dipped 0.7 per cent on a monthly basis but were up close to 9 per cent year-over-year. For all of 2017, BC manufacturing sales rose 8.1 per cent with significant contributions from a diverse array of industries, most notably the the forestry sector where sales of paper and wood products were up more than 9 per cent on an annual basis. Those gains helped drive employment and housing demand around the province as BC posted another stellar year of economic growth.