Strong C$ helps cut June Canada factory shipments

Aug 15, 2007 - The strong Canadian dollar contributed to the third consecutive monthly decline in Canadian manufacturing shipments in June, a greater-than-expected 1.8 percent from May, according to Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

The struggling sector, which lost 53,000 jobs in the last year, still managed to post a second-quarter gain of 0.7 percent from the first quarter. But the first half of the year saw an increase of only 0.1 percent from a year earlier.

Motor vehicle shipments in June plunged for the third straight month, by 13.3 percent, the largest monthly loss since August 2003. Statscan attributed it partly to "an appreciating Canadian dollar and soft conditions in the U.S. auto market."

The aerospace sector also fell by 4.6 percent, machinery by 2.8 percent and primary metals by 0.8 percent. However the aerospace sector was also the source of strong unfilled orders. Total unfilled orders rose by 2.0 percent from May; the biggest component of that is aerospace, which went up by 2.7 percent. Year on year, aerospace unfilled orders are up 56 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had on average expected overall shipments to decline by just 0.2 percent.