Canadian manufacturing sales tick up

Canadian manufacturing sales rose 1.5 percent to $49.5 billion in August, with gains reported in 11 of 21 industry groups, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The top gainer was the petroleum and coal product industry, where sales surged 8.6 percent to $6.8 billion, the fifth increase in eight months, the agency said. The second-highest monthly increase was in the motor vehicle assembly industry, which was the 12th gain in 14 months. Sales were up 4.4 percent to $4.7 billion in August, StatsCan said. Primary metal industry sales declined 3.1 percent to $3.7 billion, which the agency said was largely based on lower prices in August. By province, Ontario and New Brunswick led in manufacturing sales gains, while Manitoba and Quebec were the only two provinces with declines in August.