Canada’s manufacturing sector posted its sixth consecutive month of rising shipments in May, as the value of goods shipments grew by 1.1% from April to $49.1 billion.

Statistics Canada said today that shipments increased in 13 of the 21 manufacturing industries in May, representing 60% of total shipments.

“A robust global economy, coupled with the recent surge in prices for some of Canada’s resource-based industries, has generated a momentum in the Canadian manufacturing sector not seen since the economic boom of the late 1990s,” StatsCan said.

Through the first five months of 2004, manufacturers’ shipments rose 4.1% over the same period in 2003.

However, new orders slipped 0.8% in May after a very strong run in the prior five months, and unfilled orders dropped by 0.2%.

“The economy got a boost in May from strong U.S. growth, but the recent cooling stateside suggests activity could moderate somewhat in Canada too,” BMO Nesbitt Burns chief economist Sherry Cooper said in a commentary.