Business
Manufacturing trumps expectations in Canada
Manufacturing trumps expectations in Canada
About this update from Bombardier Inc. Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\nManufacturing trumps expectations in Canada\n\n\n Dec. 16, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- Canadian factory sales rose twice as fast as expected in October, led by gains in shipments of aerospace and petroleum and coal products. Sales increased 2% from a month earlier to $42.5 billion, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted factory shipments would rise 1%, the median of 18 estimates. The report is the second in a week to show that pressure is easing on exporters who have been hit by a strong dollar, which has gained 15% this year, and the steepest global recession in decades. Statistics Canada reported an unexpected trade surplus for October on Dec. 10. Canada's economy, which exited recession in the third quarter, will have a slower-than-normal recovery, the Bank of Canada predicts. Factory sales are 17% below their October 2008 level, and closer to the 10-year low of $38.5 billion reached in May than their pre-recession peak of $54 billion set in July 2008. Aerospace sales gained 54% in October "following two months of steep declines," Statistics Canada said. "We are starting to see some final recovery," Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief executive of Bombardier Inc., the world's third-largest commercial airplane maker, said in a Dec. 3 conference call. "However, our activities and results continue to be impacted by the downturn, especially in aerospace." Sales of petroleum and coal products rose 7.2% in October, as higher prices boosted the value of shipments. Automobile sales advanced 2.9% in October, the third gain in four months, Statistics Canada said. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. said Dec. 10 it will add a second shift at its Woodstock, Ontario facility in March 2010. The automaker said it plans to add more than 800 jobs and increase production of its RAV4 model. Excluding automobiles and parts, sales rose 2.2% to $37.2 billion. Sales advanced in 15 of 21 industries the agency tracks. Sales of non-durable goods, which include paper products, rose 0.2% in October. "We're all feeling a little bit maybe better about the economy, but I don't think any of us are feeling confident," John Williams, president and chief executive of Domtar Corp., North America's largest maker of paper for copiers and envelopes, said in a Dec. 9 conference cal...