Canada March Factory Sales Increase 1%

Canadian manufacturing sales rose in March to a record level based on strong performances in the automotive and food-processing sectors. Marring the results were a weak advance in volumes and a notable downward revision to the previous month's data.

Factory sales advanced 1% on a seasonally-adjusted basis to 53.85 billion Canadian dollars ($39.61 billion) in March, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. That fell short of market expectations for a 1.3% increase, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada.

February's data were also revised, and now indicate sales fell by a steeper 0.6% in the month from the previous estimate of a 0.2% decline.

The data agency added that on a volume, or price-adjusted, basis, factory sales increased by a tepid 0.2%. Economists eye volumes to get a better gauge on economic activity.

On a 12-month basis, manufacturing shipments rose 8.2% in March.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)