Canadian industries operated at 81.3 per cent of their production capacity in 2Q, down from 82.6 per cent in 1Q, said Statistics Canada Thursday. This was the second consecutive quarterly decline. As in the previous quarter, the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction and manufacturing industries led the decline.
Outside of manufacturing, capacity utilization decreased in every industry cov- ered by the survey except forestry and logging.
Canada Industrial Capacity
The capacity utilization rate in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry decreased from 78.9 per cent in 1Q to 75.9 per cent in 2Q, according to StatsCan. Lower demand for support activities for mining and oil and gas extraction as well as decreased oil extraction more than offset the in- crease in gas extraction.
The capacity utilization rate of the construction industry fell from 83.2 per cent to 82.3 per cent, the third consecutive quarterly decline. This decline was the result of lower production in all industry subsectors.
Capacity utilization in the forestry and logging industry rose from 86.9 per cent to 89.5 per cent as a result of increased production.