Industries in Canada Operated at 83.8% of the Total Output Capacity During the Quarter 2, 1.9% More than it was in the Previous Quarter

The profits made from the end-user industries including, quarrying, mining, oil and gas extraction and manufacturing are making up for the losses sustained by the other sectors, primarily construction.

Quarrying, Mining, And Oil and Gas Extraction Sectors Displaying Signs of Recovery

During the second quarter, the end-user industries including the quarrying, mining, and oil and gas extraction sector displayed an increase of 4.0 percent in capacity utilisation by 82.6 percent; this is the highest it has been since quarter two of 2019. High levels of activity in the oil sands extraction and related support activities for oil extraction subsectors were the cause of the observed increase.

After two straight quarterly gains, the construction sector's capacity utilisation dipped by 0.9 percentage points to around 93.6 percent in quarter two. During the earlier stage of the quarter, several construction workers from Ontario formed a union to hold a strike that led to a set-back for numerous non-residential and residential building contracts in the area.

In The Manufacturing Sector, Capacity Utilization Has Increased

The manufacturing sector's capacity utilisation rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points reaching 78.5 percent in quarter two Year over year. Since 2019, this has been the highest rate of capacity utilisation in the construction sector. In 13 out of 21 significant manufacturing industry groups Year over year, capacity utilization has risen showcasing around 60 percent of the manufacturing sector's gross domestic product.

The manufacturing of transportation equipment witnessed a quarterly gain for the third straight time in its rate for capacity utilization. The rise reached around 73.1 percent in quarter two. The rate stayed below the 2019 record rate (83.0 percent). In spite of the resumed activities since the COVID-19 pandemic, there was still a semiconductor chips shortage along with retooling at few assembly plants in the motor vehicle manufacturing sector.

A year-over-year rise in capacity utilisation was recorded in the Machinery manufacturing sector at a rate of 2.7 percentage points reaching 79.1 percent during quarter two.

The sectors that witnessed high levels of activity were mining machinery manufacturing and construction (+7.1 percent), agricultural, and industrial machinery manufacturing (+4.3 percent). The increased rate of capacity utilization in manufacturing of machinery and a major improvement from 2021 in the conditions of agricultural products in the Prairies coincided.

During quarter two the manufacturing of coal and petroleum products' capacity utilization rate was up by 3.1 percentage points year over year reaching 84.7 percent.

The petroleum refineries (-3.5 percent) witnessed a dip in activity levels, their capacity utilization rate was less than the year before quarter (90.1 percent). Despite the manufacturing sector’s proliferation, manufacturers of wood products witnessed a decline of 2.1 percentage points year-over-year in quarter two reaching 84.0 percent.

As per Procurement Resource, the construction sector’s losses were equalled by the profits generated from end-user industries like mining, manufacturing, and quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.