The Month-to-month Survey of Manufacturing (MSM), performed by Statistics Canada, is a key indicator of the well being of Canada’s industrial sector. The survey covers roughly 6,500 manufacturing institutions categorized underneath the North American Trade Classification System (NAICS), monitoring gross sales of products manufactured, inventories, unfilled orders, new orders, and capability utilization charges. Knowledge are reported in present Canadian {dollars} and adjusted for seasonal variation, with constant-dollar estimates additionally supplied to strip out value results. The survey attracts on each direct responses from producers and modelled estimates derived from Items and Companies Tax filings for smaller institutions.
Manufacturing is a major contributor to the Canadian financial system, and the MSM information are extensively utilized by the Financial institution of Canada, federal and provincial governments, and private-sector analysts to watch the enterprise cycle and inform coverage choices.
In the newest information, manufacturing gross sales fell 3.0% in January 2026 to $68.7 billion, pushed overwhelmingly by the transportation tools subsector, which dropped 18.2%. Motorcar gross sales plunged 38.9% to their lowest degree since September 2021, as a number of main auto meeting crops in Ontario prolonged their winter shutdowns into January for mannequin changeover retooling and manufacturing line upkeep. Equipment manufacturing additionally declined 5.6%. General, gross sales fell in 11 of 21 subsectors. In fixed {dollars}, the decline was even steeper at 3.9%. Inventories, in the meantime, rose 0.9% to $120.6 billion, pushing the inventory-to-sales ratio as much as 1.76 from 1.69 in December — an indication that items have been accumulating relative to weakening cargo exercise.
