Canadian manufacturers remain optimistic about production and employment levels in the third quarter despite the strong Canadian dollar, according to a poll by Statistics Canada released today.

The companies, surveyed in early July, reported little change from the second quarter in their overall expectations for production volumes, staffing levels and the source of production difficulties.

“In spite of increased pressure from the rising Canadian dollar and higher raw material prices, manufacturers remained bullish about production and employment prospects in the coming three months,” StatsCan said.

But a larger percentage of manufacturers expressed concern that new orders and unfilled orders were on the decline than in the previous poll.

Nineteen percent saw new orders falling in the third quarter compared with 11% in the second-quarter survey. Eighteen per cent saw the level of unfilled orders as lower than normal compared with 16% in the last quarter.

The balance of opinion, which is the difference between the percentage of firms expecting an improvement and the percentage expecting a downturn, was unchanged for production volumes, employment levels and production difficulties.

The balance of opinion fell for new orders and unfilled orders but improved slightly for inventory levels.