Feb 15 (Reuters) - Canadian factory sales declined 3.1 percent in December from November, the biggest monthly drop since May 2009, as sales tumbled in the auto sector and were also lower in most other industries, according to Statistics Canada data on Friday.

Sales were down in 16 of 21 industries, representing 82 percent of the manufacturing sector. In volume terms, sales sank 3.8 percent.

For 2012 as a whole, Canadian manufacturing sales grew 3.4 percent from the previous year, less than half the rate of growth of 7.8 percent in 2011.

Month/month change (pct)

Dec Nov(rev) Nov(prev)

Sales -3.1 +1.9 +1.7

Sales ex-autos -1.8 +1.7 +1.5

Inventories -1.0 -0.8 -0.8

Unfilled orders +2.6 +3.9 +3.6

New orders -4.4 +7.7 +6.2

New orders ex-autos -3.5 +8.4 +6.6

Dec Nov(rev) Nov(prev)

Inv/shipment ratio 1.34 1.32 1.31

NOTE: Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast on average an decrease of 0.8 percent in the value of shipments in December from November. All figures are seasonally adjusted.

(Reporting by Alex Paterson; editing by Louise Egan)

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