Invest in Canada » Manufacturing http://www.invest-in-canada.com The real facts about the Canadian Economy Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:03:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Loonie plunge could help Canada weather economic slowdown http://www.invest-in-canada.com/manufacturing/loonie-plunge-could-help-canada-weather-economic-slowdown.htm http://www.invest-in-canada.com/manufacturing/loonie-plunge-could-help-canada-weather-economic-slowdown.htm#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:28:44 +0000 investor http://www.invest-in-canada.com/?p=267 Experts say the plunging loonie, now at its lowest level in more than three years, could help Canada weather a global economic slowdown by making exports more competitive but things will be tough.

Canada’s manufacturing sector suffered as the dollar soared above parity with the U.S. greenback last year for the first time in decades.

The strong dollar made Canadian-produced goods relatively more expensive and hurt export-based industries, particularly the auto and forestry sectors, which have lost thousands of jobs in the last year.

One hope for Canadian exporters is that the loonie’s drop may soften the impact of a worldwide recession.

“It will help, but to the extent that the weak Canadian dollar is also a symptom of poor global economic growth, it’s more of a cushioning of the recession rather than a cure for it,” said Avery Shenfeld, a senior economist with CIBC World Markets.

He said the Canadian economy is too tightly intertwined with its American counterpart – reeling from the continued financial meltdown – for the currency exchange rate to reverse its woes completely.

The Canadian dollar closed Wednesday in North America on Wednesday at 79.70 cents US, down 2.69 cents from the previous close. It dropped another third of a cent in overseas trading early Thursday.

The loonie – which hit its all-time high of 110.31 cents US almost a year ago, last Nov. 7 – hasn’t been below 80 cents since mid-2005.

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]]> http://www.invest-in-canada.com/manufacturing/loonie-plunge-could-help-canada-weather-economic-slowdown.htm/feed 0 Factory sales plunge in record drop http://www.invest-in-canada.com/manufacturing/factory-sales-plunge-in-record-drop.htm http://www.invest-in-canada.com/manufacturing/factory-sales-plunge-in-record-drop.htm#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:54:18 +0000 investor http://www.invest-in-canada.com/?p=187

Assembly line workers handle engines for Chrysler. The downturn in manufacturing sales was considerably worse than the 5.3% drop that had been projected by analysts.

Factory sales in Canada posted their biggest decline on record in December, with the downturn affecting virtually every industry group and province, Statistics Canada reported Monday.

Manufacturing sales plunged 8% to $44.2-billion in December from $48-billion in November, the fifth consecutive month of falling values, and the worst since the federal agency began delivering the current series of data in 1992.

The downturn was considerably worse than the 5.3% drop that had been projected by analysts.

“Declines were widespread in December, as sales fell in 20 of 21 manufacturing industries,” Statistics Canada said.

“All provinces, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, posted lower manufacturing sales in December, ranging from a drop of 14.2% in both Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan to a 2.4% decrease in Manitoba.”

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