Manufacturers less concerned with finished product inventory

Canadian manufacturers have either moved more rapidly to reduce their inventories than analysts expected or repeated warnings about the need to slash inventories are going unheeded new market statistics indicate.

According to Statistics Canada’s October Quarterly Business Conditions Survey, about 80% of responding manufacturers are satisfied with their current level of finished product inventory.

The monthly survey found finished product inventories were slightly over $20 billion in August, down from a high of more than $20.2 billion in June. The finished products inventory-to-shipments ratio has levelled off after rising strongly during the winter of 2001.

About 80% of manufacturers reported little in the way of production impediments in October, unchanged from the July survey. A shortage of skilled labour continued to be a concern for 7% of manufacturers and 2% reported a shortage of unskilled labour.