2026.03.1312:43:11UTC+00Canada’s Industrial Capacity Utilization Falls in Q4

Canada’s industrial capacity utilization eased to 78.5% in Q4 2025, down from an upwardly revised 78.9% in the previous quarter, but came in slightly above market expectations of 78.4%.

In the construction sector, capacity utilization declined by 0.5 percentage points to 80.4%, marking the eighth decrease in the past ten quarters, reflecting softer activity in both residential and engineering construction.

The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector also saw a pullback, with capacity utilization falling 0.6 percentage points to 77.1%, consistent with reduced oil sands extraction activity.

Meanwhile, capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector edged down 0.3 percentage points to 77.7%. The decline was driven primarily by fabricated metal product manufacturing, which fell 6.6 percentage points, and wood product manufacturing, which dropped 1.4 percentage points. The latter was affected by the US government’s announcement of additional tariffs on Canadian lumber during the quarter.