Canada: Industries operated at 85.5% of their production capacity in Q2

"Canadian industries operated at 85.5% of their production capacity in the second quarter, up from 83.7% in the first quarter," Statistics Canada announced on Wednesday.

Key quotes

• This follows a slight decrease in capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2018 from the fourth quarter of 2017.
• The capacity utilization rate of the oil and gas extraction subsector increased for a fifth consecutive quarter, rising from 82.7% in the first quarter to 87.1% in the second quarter. 
• In the construction sector, capacity use rose 0.8 percentage points to 93.0% in the second quarter. Increased activity in residential and non-residential building construction led the gain.