Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) edged down 0.1% in August

Real gross domestic product (GDP) edged down 0.1% in August, after being essentially unchanged in July. Declines in manufacturing and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction more than offset increases in most sectors (12 out of 20).

Goods-producing industries contracted for the second consecutive month, declining 0.7% in August in part due to temporary reduced capacity in the manufacturing and the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sectors. Services-producing industries edged up 0.1%.

Following a 0.2% dip in July, the manufacturing sector contracted 1.0% in August as both durable and non-durable manufacturing declined.

Non-durable manufacturing decreased 2.0% following three consecutive months of growth as the majority of subsectors registered declines. Chemical manufacturing dropped 7.3%, its largest decline in the last 20 years, as all industry groups declined. Declines reflected in part some lost capacity due to plant maintenance shutdowns and lower demand from export markets for basic chemicals and pharmaceutical and medicinal products. There were notable decreases in manufacturing of petroleum and coal products (-3.1%) and plastic and rubber products (-2.5%). Food (+1.2%) and beverage and tobacco product manufacturing (+3.4%) were the only non-durable subsectors to increase.