{"id":641330,"date":"2026-05-01T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/641330\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:40:10","slug":"canadas-manufacturing-sector-expands-as-iran-war-drives-stockpiling-and-supply-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/641330\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s manufacturing sector expands as Iran war drives stockpiling and supply concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Maple is cut at Industrie Ergie, a company that specializes in veneer face manufacturing, in Victoriaville, Que.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s manufacturing sector<\/a> expanded in April at the fastest pace in nearly four years as the war in the Middle East spurred stock building and added to inflation pressures, data showed on Friday.<\/p>\n

The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index (PMI) rose to 53.3 last month from 50.0 in March, marking the highest level since June, 2022. A reading above 50 shows expansion in the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cLifting the lid on the latest headline PMI, whilst also drawing on the qualitative evidence of our respondents, suggests the April number should be treated with some considerable caution,\u201d Paul Smith, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowth appears to be driven by worry rather than any meaningful or permanent uplift in demand … That\u2019s squarely due to the war in the Middle East and the associated energy price and supply shock, the effects of which are now cascading across global markets and leading to a scramble to secure stock and lock in prices with suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stocks of purchases index rose to the highest level since August, 2024, at 50.7, up from 49.7 in March. Two months into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea channel, remains closed, choking off 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and gas supplies. That has sent global energy prices surging and heightened concerns about the risks of an economic downturn.<\/p>\n

Wild swings see oil prices hit wartime record of $126 a barrel before coming down hard<\/a><\/p>\n

The output index increased to 53.4 from 49.6 in March and the measure of new orders was at 55.0, up from 48.7. New orders, particularly export orders, had been badly hampered by U.S. tariffs on critical sectors, such as autos, steel and aluminum.<\/p>\n

Reflecting supply chain challenges, the measure of vendor delivery times dipped to 45.4 from 46.2 in March, posting the steepest deterioration since March last year.<\/p>\n

Higher fuel and freight transportation costs added to the inflationary impact of tariffs to drive the input price index up to 64.8, its highest level since August 2022, while the output price measure was at 58.1, up from 55.3.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch developments will certainly be noted by central bank policymakers as they look to timely survey data to assess the degree to which inflation expectations are being raised,\u201d Smith said. On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada said if oil prices stayed high and began pushing up inflation, it might have to respond with consecutive interest rate hikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Maple is cut at Industrie Ergie, a company that specializes in veneer face…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-641330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}