Statistics Canada released its Monthly Survey of Manufacturing on Thursday, which showed that the Canadian manufacturing sales rose 0.5 percent m-o-m in February to CAD56.18 billion, following an unrevised 0.2 percent m-o-m decline in January. That was the first advance in manufacturing sales since August 2019.

Economists had forecast a 0.1 percent m-o-m decrease for February.

According to the survey, higher sales in the transportation equipment industry (4.0 percent m-o-m) were the major contributor to the February growth. Overall, sales increased in 11 of 21 industries, representing 58.4 percent of total Canadian manufacturing. Notable gains in sales were also posted by such industries as plastics and rubber products (+4.3 percent m-o-m), fabricated metal product (+1.9 percent m-o-m), computer and electronic product (+5.2 percent m-o-m) and chemical (+1.3 percent m-o-m). On the contrary, the machinery (-6.0 percent m-o-m), aerospace product and parts (-9.3 percent m-o-m), petroleum and coal product (-2.2 percent m-o-m) and food (-1.0 percent m-o-m) industries recorded the biggest declines in sales.