P.E.I. manufacturing sales fade after strong 2017 start

Manufacturing sales on P.E.I. have gone into a three-month slide after a strong start to the year.

Statistics Canada published manufacturing sales figures for July this week.

Island manufacturers posted good months in January, March and April, but sales were down in May, recovered slightly in June, before dropping off again in July.

The drop erased the gains made earlier in the year. Manufacturing sales were down 1.2 per cent in July compared to July 2016.

Most of P.E.I.'s manufacturing is in non-durable goods, which includes food processing. This sector has held relatively steady over the last year. The big drop in the last few months has been in durable goods manufacturing, and this sector, from July to July, is down 5.5 per cent.

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