Canada Q4 Capacity Utilization at Nearly 2-Year High

Canadian industries operated at 79.8% of their production capacity in the fourth quarter of 2024, up from an upwardly revised 79.4% in the third quarter and above market estimates of 79.3%.

It was the highest reading since Q1 2023, as capacity utilization in the construction industry rose for the second straight quarter by 1 percentage point to 84% in the fourth quarter.

This increase coincided with higher activity in residential and non-residential building construction.

Concurrently, the capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector edged up 0.1 percentage points to 78.2%, driven by petroleum and coal product manufacturing (+4.4 percentage points) and chemical manufacturing (+2.0 percentage points).

However, capacity utilization in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution sector fell 0.3 points to 83.1% in Q4, weighed down by lower electricity demand for heating purposes due to higher-than-normal temperatures in some regions during the quarter.