Month end numbers from Statistics Canada said that manufacturing sales fell by 1.7% for July 2011 to CAD 45.3 billion, the lowest amount since November 2010.

Across the board, sales fell all three months of the second quarter of 2011 after a growth spurt that started in May 2009.

Stats Can said that the big losers for the month were petroleum and coal products, machinery and goods that fell into the miscellaneous category. Fifteen of 21 industries, representing 77.5% of total manufacturing, reported lower sales for the month.

Mr Jean Michel Laurin, VP of Global Business Policy at CME said that manufacturing accounts for 13% of Canada's GDP and more than two thirds of Canada's merchandise exports. As of July 2011, more than 1.7 million Canadians were directly employed by a Canadian manufacturing company. That represents one in 10 Canadian jobs.

(Sourced from www.cme-mec.ca)