Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, February 2026
Released: 2026-04-15
Total manufacturing sales rose 3.6% to $71.2 billion in February, following a 3.1% decline in January. Sales rose in 12 of the 21 subsectors, led by the transportation equipment (+18.8%), machinery (+7.7%) and primary metal (+4.9%) subsectors. Those increases were partially offset by a 3.2% decline in sales of chemical products. On a year-over year basis, total manufacturing sales were down 1.7% in February.
In constant dollars, total manufacturing sales rose 3.4% in February, while the Industrial Product Price Index increased 0.4%.
Transportation equipment subsector leads the increase
Sales of transportation equipment rebounded in February, rising 18.8% to $10.6 billion, following a sharp decline of 18.4% in January. Within the transportation equipment subsector, all industry groups posted higher sales, with the strongest gains observed in the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts industry groups. Auto production in Ontario partially recovered in February as several assembly plants ramped up their operations following planned maintenance and retooling shutdowns during December and January. As a result, sales of motor vehicles increased sharply by 43.4% to $3.7 billion in February, while sales of motor vehicle parts rose 9.9% to $2.7 billion. Exports of motor vehicles and parts grew 30.2% in February. Despite the gains, total sales in the transportation equipment subsector stood 10.2% lower compared with February 2025.
Following a 6.3% decline in January, sales in the machinery subsector increased 7.7% to $4.6 billion in February, on higher prices and volumes sold, as sales in real terms rose 3.1%. Increased sales of other general-purpose machinery as well as industrial machinery contributed the most to the gain. Year over year, total machinery manufacturing sales in current dollars rose 3.4% in February.
Sales of primary metals reached a new record high, rising 4.9% to $6.5 billion in February, mainly on strong demand for non-ferrous metals. In real terms, sales of primary metals rose 9.2% in February, the highest month-over-month increase since January 2021.
Sales of chemical products declined 3.2% to $5.0 billion in February 2026, the lowest level since July 2025. The decline was mainly driven by lower sales of basic chemicals as well as pharmaceutical and medicine products. Sales of chemical products on a constant dollar basis were down 4.7% from January to February.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Ontario posts the largest manufacturing sales increase
Sales rose in six provinces in February, led by Ontario and Quebec, while Alberta posted the largest decline.
Sales in Ontario rose 7.5% to $30.5 billion in February, following a 7.4% decline in January. Sales increased in 14 of the 21 subsectors, led by transportation equipment and machinery. Transportation equipment sales rose 24.7% to $6.9 billion in February, reflecting higher sales of motor vehicles (+43.7%) and motor vehicle parts (+10.5%). In the machinery subsector, sales increased 21.7% to $2.2 billion, mainly on higher sales of other general-purpose machinery. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Ontario were down 4.6% in February.
In Quebec, sales rose 2.4% to $19.0 billion in February, driven by increased sales of primary metals (+3.2%) and higher production of aerospace products and parts (+5.5%). Sales of primary metals in Quebec reached a record high, rising 3.2% to $3.3 billion in February due to higher sales in the non-ferrous metal (except aluminum) production and processing industry group.
Alberta recorded the largest decrease, with sales declining 2.5% to $8.5 billion in February. Sales fell in 11 of the 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (-5.1%) and chemical (-9.5%) subsectors. Decreased sales of basic chemicals accounted for most of the decline in the chemical subsector during the month. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Alberta were down 1.5% in February.
Total inventories increase
Total inventories rose 0.6% to $121.9 billion in February, driven by higher inventories of finished products (+1.4%) and goods in process (+1.0%). Raw material inventories declined 0.3% during the same period. At the subsector level, higher inventories of machinery (+5.1%), food (+2.1%), and plastic and rubber products (+5.9%) were partially offset by a 2.3% decline in inventories of chemical products.
Chart 2
Total inventories increase in February
The inventory–to–sales ratio declined from 1.76 in January to 1.71 in February. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Chart 3
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreases in February
Unfilled orders increase
Unfilled orders reached a record high, rising 2.3% to $117.6 billion in February, driven primarily by higher unfilled orders for aerospace products and parts (+4.2%).
Chart 4
Unfilled orders increase in February
Capacity utilization rate increases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector rose from 75.4% in January to 77.1% in February. The gains were most noticeable in the transportation equipment (+6.0 percentage points), wood (+3.4 percentage points), and machinery (+2.9 percentage points) subsectors. In contrast, the capacity utilization rate in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 2.9 percentage points during the same period.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate increases in February
Sustainable development goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The Monthly Survey of Manufacturing is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Monthly data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars, unless otherwise specified.
Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Trend-cycle estimates are included in selected charts as a complement to the seasonally adjusted series. These data represent a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted time series and provide information on longer-term movements, including changes in direction underlying the series. For information on trend-cycle data, see Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Both seasonally adjusted data and trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and could even lead to a reversal of movement, especially for reference months near the end of the series or during periods of economic disruption.
Non-durable goods industries include food; beverage and tobacco products; textile mills; textile product mills; apparel; leather and allied products; paper; printing and related support activities; petroleum and coal products; chemicals; and plastics and rubber products.
Durable goods industries include wood products; non-metallic mineral products; primary metals; fabricated metal products; machinery; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment, appliances and components; transportation equipment; furniture and related products; and miscellaneous manufacturing.
Production-based industries
For the aerospace and shipbuilding industry groups, the value of production is used instead of the value of sales of goods manufactured. The value of production is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured. The value of production is used because of the extended period of time that it normally takes to manufacture products in these industries.
Unfilled orders are a stock of orders that will contribute to future sales, assuming that the orders are not cancelled.
New orders are those received whether sold in the current month or not. New orders are measured as the sum of sales for the current month plus the change in unfilled orders from the previous month to the current month.
Manufacturers reporting sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars
Some Canadian manufacturers report sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars. These data are then converted to Canadian dollars as part of the data production cycle.
For sales, based on the assumption that they occur throughout the month, the average monthly exchange rate for the reference month established by the Bank of Canada is used for the conversion. The monthly average exchange rate is available in table 33-10-0163-01. Inventories and unfilled orders are reported at the end of the reference period. For most respondents, the daily average exchange rate on the last working day of the month is used for the conversion of these variables.
However, some manufacturers choose to report their data using a day other than the last working day of the month. In these instances, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent is used. Note that because of exchange rate fluctuations, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent can differ from both the exchange rate on the last working day of the month and the monthly average exchange rate. Daily average exchange rate data are available in table 33-10-0036-01.
Revision policy
Each month, the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing releases preliminary data for the reference month and revised data for the previous three months. Revisions are made to reflect new information provided by respondents and updates to administrative data.
Once a year, a revision project is undertaken to revise multiple years of data. Statistics Canada will release revised monthly manufacturing data on May 15, in accordance with standard practices. Estimates of sales of goods manufactured, inventories and orders in tables 16-10-0047-01, 16-10-0048-01 and 16-10-0011-01 will be revised back to January 2023 for unadjusted data and back to January 2021 for seasonally adjusted data.
Real manufacturing sales, orders, inventory owned and inventory-to-sales ratio estimates in table 16-10-0013-01 will be revised back to January 2021.
Unadjusted estimates of capacity utilization rates, in table 16-10-0012-01, will be revised back to January 2023.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for March will be released on May 15.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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