Statistics Canada released its Monthly Survey of Manufacturing on Thursday, which showed that the Canadian manufacturing sales tumbled 9.2 percent m-o-m in March to CAD50.79 billion, following a revised 0.4 percent m-o-m advance in February (originally a 0.5 percent m-o-m gain), as many plants were shut down or faced sharply lower demand during the last two weeks of the month due to COVID-19. That was the biggest decline in manufacturing sales since December 2008.

Economists had forecast a 5.7 percent m-o-m decrease for March.

According to the survey, sales decreased in 17 of 21 industries, led by steep declines in the petroleum and coal product (-32.2 percent m-o-m) and transportation equipment (-26.5 percent m-o-m) industries. In contrast, sales rose noticeably in the paper (+8.4 percent m-o-m), food (+8.2 percent m-o-m), as well as beverage and tobacco (+6.7 percent m-o-m) industries.

Overall, sales of durable goods industries declined 4.9 percent m-o-m in March, while sales of non-durable goods industries plunged 13.1 percent m-o-m.