(Adds details from report)
OTTAWA, March 10 (Reuters) - Canada's industrial capacity
use dipped in the fourth quarter from the prior period on a
decline in activity in the construction and oil and gas
extraction sectors, data from Statistics Canada showed on
Thursday.
Capacity utilization was 81.1 percent in the quarter, shy of
economists' expectations of 81.6 percent. Statscan lowered the
third-quarter figure to 81.6 percent from an initially reported
82.0 percent.
Lower activity in most parts of the construction industry
sent the sector's utilization rate down to 83.7 percent from
84.7 percent in its fourth consecutive quarter of declines.
The oil and gas industry operated at 78.3 percent of its
capacity, down from 79.4 percent as extraction volumes fell. The
energy sector has suffered because of the drop in oil prices.
The manufacturing sector overall ran at 83.3 percent of its
capacity, down slightly from 83.4 percent. The utilization rate
fell in 12 of the industry's 21 major groups. Those groups
accounted for about 60 percent of manufacturing's gross domestic
product.
For the year overall, the average capacity utilization rate
fell 1 percentage point to 81.3 percent. The cheaper price of
oil, a major Canadian export, put Canada in a mild recession in
the first half of 2015.
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Graphic - Canada economic dashboard: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/sc-canada/index.html
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