Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, January 2026
Released: 2026-03-13
Following a 0.4% increase in December, total manufacturing sales fell 3.0% to $68.7 billion in January, their lowest level since May 2025. In January 2026, sales were down in 11 of the 21 subsectors, led by transportation equipment (-18.2%) and machinery (-5.6%).
Within the transportation equipment subsector, motor vehicle sales fell 38.9% in January, reaching their lowest level since September 2021. Sales of motor vehicle parts declined 7.7% in January. Several major auto assembly plants in Ontario extended their winter shutdowns from December to January to complete model change retooling and production line maintenance, resulting in reduced auto production. Consequently, sales of motor vehicle parts also weakened. Excluding the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts industry groups, total manufacturing sales decreased 0.5% in January. Exports of motor vehicles and parts declined 21.2% according to the release ''Canadian international merchandise trade'' for January. On a year-over-year basis, total sales of transportation equipment were down 23.9% in January.
Following a 3.2% increase in December, machinery manufacturing sales declined 5.6% to $4.3 billion in January. Sales were down across all the machinery industry groups, led by industrial machinery manufacturing. Year over year, total sales in the machinery subsector fell 1.2% in January.
In the miscellaneous manufacturing subsector, sales rose 16.8% to $1.5 billion in January, the highest level on record. This increase was driven primarily by higher sales in jewelry and silverware manufacturing, supported by elevated prices for precious metals.
In constant dollars, total manufacturing sales fell 3.9% in January, while the Industrial Product Price Index increased 2.7%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Sales decreased in five provinces, led by Ontario
Sales decreased in five provinces in January, with Ontario posting the largest decline. Meanwhile, sales in Quebec recorded the largest increase.
In Ontario, sales fell 7.7% to $28.2 billion in January, the lowest level since January 2022, with declines in 16 of the 21 subsectors. The decrease was driven largely by lower sales of motor vehicles (-38.5%), motor vehicle parts (-8.9%) and machinery (-13.5%). Within the machinery subsector, reduced sales of industrial machinery and metalworking machinery contributed the most to the decline. These decreases were partially offset by a 17.3% increase in sales in the miscellaneous manufacturing subsector. Year over year, total sales in Ontario were down 9.5% in January.
Sales in Quebec rose 1.4% to $18.7 billion in January, driven by gains in the primary metal (+4.7%) and fabricated metal product (+9.5%) subsectors. Sales of primary metals reached $3.3 billion in January, the highest level on record, mainly because of strong demand. Total manufacturing sales in Quebec were down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis in January.
Total inventories rise
Following three consecutive monthly declines, total inventories rose 0.9% to $120.6 billion in January. The increase was driven by higher inventories of raw materials (+1.3%) and goods in process (+1.7%). Inventories of finished products declined 0.4% during the same period. At the subsectors level, inventories of transportation equipment (+3.6%) and primary metals (+3.5%) posted the largest increases, while machinery manufacturing (-2.2%) reported the largest decline.
Chart 2
Total inventories increase in January
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.69 in December to 1.76 in January. 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 increases in January
Unfilled orders edge up
Unfilled orders posted their fourth consecutive monthly increase and reached a new record high, edging up 0.2% to $114.8 billion in January. The gain was mainly driven by higher unfilled orders in the electrical equipment, appliance and component (+3.4%) and fabricated metal product (+1.8%) subsectors.
Chart 4
Unfilled orders increase slightly in January
Capacity utilization rate decreases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector fell from 76.8% in December to 75.3% in January. The largest declines were observed in the non-metallic mineral product (-9.7 percentage points) and transportation equipment (-9.1 percentage points) subsectors. In contrast, the capacity utilization rate for chemical product manufacturing rose 3.0 percentage points in January.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate decreases in January
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.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for February will be released on April 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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