Evidence of Saskatchewan’s emergence as a player in the manufacturing industry continues to mount.
This segment of the economy has been a particularly strong performer in the past few years as our reliance on primary production is being offset by a growing processing and assembly capacity. In the latest figures, Regina and Saskatoon rank among the big five cities in terms of consistent growth and expansion.
The first metric is the month-to-the-month comparison. On this one, Saskatchewan’s two largest cities stood first and second. Regina’s manufacturing sales went up seven per cent in August while Saskatoon saw a six per cent increase. That placed us first and second nationally with Regina generating nearly $1 billion in sales activity each month while Saskatoon is running in the half billion a month range.
When looking at the sector over a longer period – year-over-year – the cities claimed third and fourth spots with gains running in the 30-per cent range which is well ahead of inflation and representative of growing demand for the things we produce such as farm machinery and refined oil products.
