Canada's manufacturers posted their worst sales in nearly a decade in November, factoring in price shifts, according to Statistics Canada figures released Tuesday.

Sales of produced goods fell 6.4 per cent in the second-last month of 2008 compared to October, the federal agency said, with $48.4 billion in manufacturing sales fell for a fourth straight month and hitting a floor equal to December 2004 receipts.

But factoring in price changes, in this case setting prices at 2002 levels, manufacturing sales reached a point not seen since before the turn of the new century.

Analysts were almost dismayed at the results.

"Manufacturing sales dropped 6.4 per cent in November, more than double market forecasts for a decline of 3 per cent. The downside surprise was the result of sharp declines in both prices and volumes in the month, with sales in volume terms falling to the lowest level in almost 10 years," Dawn Desjardins, assistant chief economist at RBC Economics Research, said in a morning commentary.

All manufacturers sinking

November was actually worse for goods producers once automotive industries, usually considered to be the weak sister of North American manufacturers, were taken out of the equation.

In the month, sales for other manufacturers fell by 7.3 per cent, almost a full percentage point higher than the shrinkage rate when car and parts makers are included.

Compared to October, non-automotive producers sold $3.5 billion less in November.

All provinces suffered in November, including British Columbia and Quebec. Both had posted gains in October.

New orders tumble

New orders for manufacturers, an indication of future sales, simply fell out of bed in November, falling almost 13 per cent in the month compared to October. That represented a change in direction versus October's increase in new orders of 9.3 per cent.

At $49 billion, November's new orders reached their lowest point since October 2007, according to Statistics Canada.

Interestingly, the one bit of good news for manufacturers in the depressing November results turned out to be a negative.

The sector's inventory level — a measure of goods produced but not sold — slid marginally by 0.6 per cent. That usually would be positive news because, as the second straight month in which inventories dropped, the figures often show that companies are working down what is in the warehouse and will be soon producing new goods.

But November's ratio of inventory-to-sales hit its highest level since the second-last month in 2002. This figure indicated that, while inventories are shrinking, sales are contracting at a faster pace.