Workers produce brake and fuel lines at Caledon Tubing in St Mary’s, Ont. in 2016.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 0.2 per cent in February to $53.6-billion as the motor vehicle assembly and petroleum and coal product manufacturing industries declined.
Economists had expected a drop of 0.7 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.
Factory sales were down in 10 of the 21 industries, representing 37 per cent of the Canadian manufacturing sector.
In volume terms, sales ticked up 0.1 per cent.
Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry fell 5.3 per cent to $5.7-billion, while the petroleum and coal products industry dropped 5.0 per cent to $5.1-billion.
Sales fell in seven provinces, led by Ontario, which fell 1.1 per cent to $25.7-billion.
Sales in Quebec rose 2.1 per cent to $12.9-billion.