Canadian manufacturing sales broke a string of consecutive down months, rising 1 per cent in April. Sales were higher in just 10 of 21 industries representing about half of all manufacturing sales, with the largest gains coming from the petroleum and coal industry and sales of transportation equipment. In inflation adjusted terms, total sales were up 1.4 per cent. 

In BC, where the manufacturing sector employs approximately 170,000 people, sales fell 1.3 per cent on a monthly basis but were up 2.2 per cent year-over-year. The manufacturing and export sector is the one piece of the provincial economy that is lagging behind otherwise very strong growth in 2016. With improvement in the US economy as well as BC's major provincial trading partners like Alberta, we expect that the manufacturing sector should be pulled out of its current sluggish growth, providing a further boost to an already robust BC economy. 

Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.