Sales plunge in June for P.E.I. firms making durable goods

Many P.E.I. manufacturers recorded a big drop in sales in June, after holding steady in May.

Statistics Canada released its manufacturing sales report Friday morning.

The regional breakdownshows that overall sales for P.E.I., seasonally adjusted, are down 7.2 per cent for the month. All of those losses are in durable goods.

• Durable goods: -21.9%
• Non-durable goods: +0.9%

For the year, overall sales of P.E.I.-made goods are down 16.2 per cent.

In May, it appeared pandemic losses for Island manufacturers might have bottomed out, with sales on the month down only about one per cent.

But the total sales masked large changes within different sectors. Non-durable goods, such as food processing, fell significantly in May, while durable goods jumped up.

In retrospect, it appears the boost for durable goods was a one-month phenomenon.

Yet compared to Canada as a whole, P.E.I. is still faring relatively well in 2020.

Manufacturing as a whole is down just 3.4 per cent for the year, as compared to 17 per cent nationally.

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