Canada’s manufacturing sector suffered a setback in February as the value of shipments tumbled 2.2% to $50.7 billion, Statistics Canada said today.

February’s drop was the third decline in the last four months, the federal government agency said.

“Although wide ranging, the decrease was largely attributable to lower industrial prices for petroleum, wood and chemical products,” the agency said.

A warmer-than-usual winter pushed down demand and prices for petroleum products. That led to a 10% plunge in shipments of petroleum and coal products in February to $4.4 billion.

Shipments of wood products fell more than 7% to $2.8 billion as demand for softwood lumber and particleboard weakened.

Motor vehicle shipments grew by 3.4% to $5.6 billion in February, marking the first increase in four months. Statistics Canada said that increase came as the auto industry returned to normal activity after some temporary slowdowns of assembly lines in January.