Manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $56.2 billion in April, following two consecutive monthly increases.

Sales were down in 10 of 21 industries, representing 49.6% of the manufacturing sector. Sales in the petroleum and coal products and transportation equipment industries accounted for much of the decrease in April. Excluding these two industries, manufacturing sales rose 0.4%.

In constant dollars, manufacturing sales in volumes declined 1.9%.

In April, sales in the petroleum and coal products industry fell 10.9% to $5.2 billion, a third consecutive monthly decline. The decrease in April was entirely due to lower sales volumes, as prices for the industry rose 4.5%, according to the Industrial Product Price Index. Partial shutdowns at a number of Canadian refineries for maintenance work during the month were a major contributor to the decline in volumes sold (-13.2%).