Manufacturing opens ’11 on a two-year high

OTTAWA — Manufacturing sales increased 4.5 percent to $47.7 billion in January, the highest level since October 2008.

According to Stats Canada, the gains mostly concentrated in transportation equipment — the increase in that sector since July 2009 (+5.3%).

Higher sales were reported in 17 of 21 industries, representing 87 percent of total manufacturing.

Motor vehicles rose a healthy 26 percent to $4.1 billion in January, reflecting a rebound at assembly plants following slowdowns and production difficulties caused by severe weather conditions in Southern Ontario in December.

Production in the aerospace product and parts industry were also up 25.2 percent to $1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, inventories held by manufacturers rose 1.2 percent in January to $61.5 billion, led by the food (+2.9%), fabricated metal product (+3.0%) and primary metal (+1.7%) industries.

Manufacturers in the motor vehicle industry reported a 25.2 percent drop in inventories to $1 billion.