Canada manufacturing sales dropped a record -28.5% mom to CAD 36.4B in April, much worse than expectation of -20.2% mom. StatCan said, “April marked the first full month of physical distancing measures in the wake of COVID-19 and manufacturing plants operated at limited capacity or ceased operations completely.”
Sales were down in all 21 industries, led by sharp declines in the transportation equipment and petroleum and coal product industries. In volume terms, manufacturing sales fell by a record 26.0%, indicating that a much lower volume of products was sold in April.