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[Canada's capacity utilization rate rises to 78.5% in the third quarter, with oil and gas and construction being the main drivers] (1) According to Ottawa, Statistics Canada disclosed on Friday that the country's capacity utilization rate across all industries rose to 78.5% in the July-September period, up 0.9 percentage points from the previous quarter, mainly driven by the recovery of the oil and gas extraction industry and the first rebound in the construction industry in more than two years. (2) Capacity utilization rate reflects the ratio of actual output to potential output in an industry and is a key indicator for measuring the intensity of production capacity use. This data is lower than the 79.5% expected by economists at TD Securities, and the data for the second quarter was revised down from 79.3% to 77.6%. (3) Specifically, the capacity utilization rate of the construction industry rebounded for the first time after declining for eight consecutive quarters, increasing by 1.3 percentage points to 80.2% quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to increased engineering construction activities; the mining, quarrying and oil and gas industry rose by 0.7 percentage points to 77.1% quarter-on-quarter, reversing the decline in the previous quarter; the manufacturing industry was driven by the oil and coal and transportation equipment manufacturing sectors, with the utilization rate increasing by 1.1 percentage points to 77.8%. (4) However, capacity utilization in the power generation, transmission, and distribution sectors fell 1.7 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 77.8%, mainly due to reduced hydropower generation caused by drought in some areas. (5) Canada's GDP grew at an annualized rate of 2.6% in the third quarter, with the recovery in net trade and increased defense spending offsetting the impact of weak domestic demand. The country's capacity utilization rate had remained above 80% from 2021 to early 2023, but has declined since 2023 as economic growth has slowed.