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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Weaker manufacturing numbers not a concern, officials say

By: Martin Cash

Posted: 03/17/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

JANUARY was not a great month for the manufacturing business in Manitoba, but industry officials insist it's not cause for concern.

While factory shipments rose across the country for the fifth month in a row in January, month-over-month numbers in Manitoba have lagged for several months.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that sales across Canada were up 2.4 per cent in January to $44.6 billion, when most economists had expected much more modest 0.6 per cent growth.

Manitoba and two Atlantic provinces were the only ones to show a decline (Manitoba was down 0.3 per cent).

The January-to-January comparison looks even worse for Manitoba. This province was down seven per cent, with P.E.I. the only other province in negative numbers. Nationally, sales were up 10 per cent over that same period.

But Joseph Warbanski, head economic statistician with the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, said the January number is just one month and while there might be a bounce back in Ontario and B.C., those provinces have experienced year-long declines for three years in a row.

"Manitoba is not immune to national and international trends and it is a very different world since October 2008," Warbanski said. "That said, Manitoba was third strongest in 2009."

Experts say there is no reason to believe there has been a fundamental change in Manitoba's slow-growth manufacturing sector, but Ron Koslowsky, Manitoba vice-president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said it's important that it does not become complacent.

"More companies need to get past just doing what they always did, only a little bit better," he said. "If we just keep building the same old widgets we will see further declines."

-- Martin Cash, with Canwest News Service files

Manufacturing sales

(percentage change January from December):

Canada: 2.4

Newfoundland and Labrador: 11.0

Prince Edward Island: -7.2

Nova Scotia: 5.5

New Brunswick: 6.8

Quebec: 3.2

Ontario: 2.1

Manitoba: -0.3

Saskatchewan: 1.3

Alberta: 1.4

British Columbia: 4.2

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 17, 2010 B5

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