Tempe, Ariz. -- None of the 18 manufacturing sectors tracked each month by a research group reported increased business activity in February, the group said Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management said contractions were reported by manufacturing industries across the board.

The headline Purchasing Managers Index rose 0.2 points in the month to 35.8, meaning the contraction in February slowed marginally compared to January.

But, indexes must rise to more than 50 to indicate growth. This hasn't happened in 13 months, ISM said.

New orders, a component index, contracted for the 15th consecutive month, falling slightly to 33.1. The production index rose to 36.3 but manufacturing employment declined 3.8 points to 26.1, the seventh consecutive month employment has contracted.

Ottawa -- Canadian manufacturing sales declined 8 percent to $44.2 billion in December, the largest monthly decline since January 1992, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Sales fell in 20 of 21 manufacturing industries, with the printing and related support activities industry recording only a fractional increase of 0.1 percent, the agency said.

Leading the decliners was the petroleum and coal products industry, which fell 18.4 percent to $4.4 billion. StatsCan said falling prices were the biggest contributing factors.

Primary metal manufacturers reported lower sales of $3.5 billion, down 14.4 percent and linked to falling prices and deteriorating global demand.

The motor vehicle industry reported sales were down 14.2 percent to $3.2 billion, with the motor vehicle parts sub-sector down 17.6 percent because of sharply reduced demand, the report said.

Toluca, Mexico -- Mexico's thriving candy manufacturing industry likely was the source of most Valentine's Day candy sales in the United States, industry officials say.

With Mexican candy imports to the United States more than doubling since 2002, chances are that candy purchased for U.S. sweethearts likely has Mexican origins, USA Today reported Thursday.

Among the confectioners with operations in Mexico are Brach's Confections, Sunrise Confections and Bobs Candies of Albany, Ga.

Dennis Bomberger, business manager of Pennsylvania's Chocolate Workers Local 464, said a growing number of candy-making jobs are leaving the United States for foreign destinations such as Mexico.

"All these companies want to make it cheap overseas somewhere, then bring it back and sell it to our people who don't have any jobs to buy it," the Hershey, Pa., union official said.