Manufacturing sales in Saskatchewan grew by 1.7 per cent in October. Statistics Canada says that beat the national average, which was actually a decline of 0.7 per cent. Only Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were able to beat us. Compared to October of a year ago though, sales here were off nearly 10 per cent. Across the country sales were down an average of 2.1 per cent. Only Newfoundland and Labrador had a larger drop than ours. In total, sales in Saskatchewan rang in at about $1.4 billion dollars in October.

In Saskatoon’s census metropolitan area, sales rose 3.4 per cent month-to-month. Of 12 areas surveyed, five had higher increases. Year-to-year, sales were off 2.9 per cent in Saskatoon. Three areas experienced larger drops. Total sales in the Saskatoon CMA were $301 million.