OTTAWA, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Canadian manufacturing sales rose 1.7 percent to $49.5 billion in July, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Sales increases were broad-based, edging higher in 15 of 21 industries in the report, the agency said.
Sales of goods durable goods expected to last three years or more rose 2.1 percent in the month to $24.8 billion, while sales of non-durable goods rose 1.2 percent to $24.6 billion.
Gains in the sale of manufactured non-durable goods was largely attributed to increases in the coal and petroleum industry.
Coal and petroleum industry sales rose 2.4 percent to $7 billion, a gain that was mostly due to higher prices.
Sales of fabricated metal products rose 5.9 percent to $2.8 billion in the month. Wood product sales rose 6.3 percent to $2 billion, after two months of declines.
Sales of wood products hit a six-year high in April at $2.2 billion.
Among the provinces, Ontario set the pace with 3.2 percent growth, about two-fifths of that attributed to growth in transportation equipment.
In Alberta, manufacturing sales rose 2.1 percent to $6.3 billion. In New Brunswick, sales fell 10.1 percent to $1.5 billion, largely due to a 10.1 percent drop in sales of non-durable goods.
Total sales in Quebec also slowed, dropping 0.2 percent to $11.2 billion, the decline due entirely to a decline in sales of aerospace products and parts, the agency said.
