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February 16, 2021MANUFACTURING SHIPMENTS, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2020 Month over month (seasonally adjusted, December vs. November 2020)
Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments increased 2.7% to $758.0 million. National shipments increased 0.9% to $54.19 billion. Manufacturing shipments were up in 9 of 10 provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Ontario was the only province to report a decline.
Year over year (seasonally adjusted, December 2020 vs. December 2019)
Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments decreased 4.9%. National shipments decreased 3.9%. Manufacturing shipments were down in 6 of 10 provinces, with the largest declines in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island and British Columbia reported the largest gains.
Annual (2020 vs. 2019)
Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments decreased 5.7%. National shipments decreased 11.4%. Manufacturing shipments were down in all 10 provinces, with the largest declines in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba reported the smallest declines.
Nova Scotia's durable goods shipments decreased 3.2%, while non-durable goods shipments decreased 6.9%. In unadjusted data for Halifax, durable goods shipments decreased 1.4%, while non-durables increased 0.5%. Outside Halifax, unadjusted durable goods shipments decreased 23.0%, while non-durables decreased 23.1%.
Trends
In the nine months leading up to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing shipments had been trending down both in Canada and in Nova Scotia. After the pandemic was declared, Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments declined sharply, falling 14.2% from February to May. National shipments reached their trough earlier, falling 34.9% from February to April. Since then, Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments have recovered and were 5.2% higher in December than in February. National shipments rebounded quickly through July, but growth has slowed since then and Canadian manufacturing shipments in December were 2.9% below February levels.
With a decline of 5.7% in 2020, Nova Scotia's manufacturing shipments ended a 5-year run of annual increases. Ontario and Prince Edward Island were the only other provinces with a 5-year period of positive annual growth from 2015-2019.
Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0047-01 Manufacturers' sales, inventories, orders and inventory to sales ratios, by industry (dollars unless otherwise noted); Table 16-10-0048-01 Manufacturing sales by industry and province, monthly (dollars unless otherwise noted) (x 1,000); Table 16-10-0011-01 Manufacturing sales, by industry for 12 Selected Census Metropolitan Areas (x 1,000)
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