Outlook for production levels looking brighter for second quarter

Canada’s economic outlook is looking a bit brighter following the release of Statistics Canada’s Quarterly Business Conditions Survey for Manufacturing Industries.

In April, fewer manufacturers said they expected to decrease production levels further in the second quarter.
Only 27% of manufacturers stated they would decrease production, this was a marked improvement from the 41% who said in the first quarter that they would do so. And 58% of manufacturers said their production levels would remain constant during the second quarter..

The Business Conditions Survey is conducted in January, April, July and October.The results are based on replies from about 4,000 manufacturers and are weighted by a manufacturer’s shipments or employment.

In April, 39% of manufacturers reported lower-than-normal unfilled orders, while only 7% reported higher-than-normal unfilled orders. Manufacturers in 12 of the 22 major industry groups reported a lower-than-normal backlog of unfilled orders. Producers in the transportation equipment and paper industries reported the highest levels of concern about unfilled orders.

In April, 36% of manufacturers were concerned about declining orders.

Seventy-five percent of manufacturers said their finished product inventory levels were about right, up from 66% in January, and 20% of producers said their finished product inventories were too high, down 11 percentage points. February’s Monthly Survey of Manufacturing reported finished products inventories were almost $19.9 billion, up almost $1.9 billion from February 2000.