13 out of the 21 sectors tracked, Statistics Canada said. The agency noted that despite the global shortage in the semi-conductor chip supply, production at most auto assembly plants in the country partly increased in June, thereby elevating motor sales in Canada by 25.6 per cent in the month. On the other hand, the petroleum and coal industry also reported a 5.2 per cent increase in sales, with prices and the volume of sales beginning to pick up as many provinces across the North American nation began easing restrictions following a hard third wave of COVID-19.
Nevertheless, Omar Abdelrahman, an economist at TD Bank, pointed out that also manufacturing sales in the month of June showed some signs of life, several challenged reported from the auto industry suggests that were aren’t out of the woods yet. “[…] while output in the auto industry has partially recovered, production levels remain low as a result of the global shortage in semiconductor chips,” he wrote in a report. “Recent reports from auto manufacturers suggest that we aren’t out of the woods yet, with some citing that shortages may continue to cloud the outlook into next year.”
Despite the rise in manufacturing sales by the end of the second quarter, wholesale sales in the month of June declined by 0.8 per cent to $71.5 billion, and according to the figures issued by Statistics Canada, this was mainly on account of the contraction in sales of building material, machinery and equipment. The drop in sales of lumber and other building supplies in the month of June led to a 5.4 per cent drop in wholesale sales of building materials and supplies, while 3.5 per cent decline was also reported in the sales of machinery, equipment and supplies.
