Manufacturing sales in Alberta rose by a robust 1.5 per cent in September to $6.7 billion, according to Statistics Canada.

The province also saw year-over-year sales climb by 15.1 per cent.

The federal agency reported Friday that sales across the country increased by 0.2 per cent to $58.5 billion, following a 0.5 per cent decrease in August.

It said sales increased in eight of 21 industries, led by higher sales in the transportation equipment industry. However, these gains were largely offset by declines in the machinery and wood product industries.

“Sales of transportation equipment increased 3.1 per cent to $11.0 billion in September, following a 1.8 per cent decline in August. The growth was mainly attributable to higher sales in the motor vehicle assembly (+6.1 per cent) and motor vehicle parts (+1.9 per cent) industries, reflecting a ramp up in production following motor vehicle assembly plant shutdowns in July and August,” said StatsCan.

On an annual basis, sales were up 7.8 per cent across the country.

Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales increased for the fourth consecutive quarter, rising 2.0 per cent to $175.5 billion in the third quarter.

“The increase was mainly the result of higher sales of petroleum and coal products (+15.2 per cent), mostly due to higher volumes sold. Prices for petroleum and coal products, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index, increased 1.0 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. In real (or volume) terms, quarterly manufacturing sales increased 1.4 per cent to $159.2 billion on higher sales of petroleum and coal products,” it said.

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