Canada's goods trade surplus widens to $5.4 billion in September as exports edge up 0.2%
Statistics Canada says exports to the United States rose 0.7% and imports of motor vehicles and parts fell 9.1%. Adjusted for prices, total exports were down 4.0%.
Canada's merchandise trade surplus widened to $5.4 billion in September from $5.0 billion in August. Statistics Canada reported on November 4 that exports of goods edged up 0.2% to $78.6 billion while imports fell 0.3% to $73.2 billion.
Statistics Canada reports dollar values, not tonnes or truck counts. Its volume figures, which remove the effect of price changes, tell a weaker story: total exports were down 4.0% in September and total imports were down 2.5%.
What moved exports
Energy and metals did the lifting. Exports of energy products rose 8.2%, led by crude oil and bitumen (up 10.2% on higher prices) and natural gas (up 32.1%). Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products rose 8.6%, mostly unwrought gold.
Without those two product sections, exports fell 5.6%. Eight of the 11 product sections declined, including consumer goods (down 7.1%), industrial machinery, equipment and parts (down 9.0%), and motor vehicles and parts (down 4.9%).
What moved imports
Imports of motor vehicles and parts fell 9.1%, a second straight monthly drop after a record high in July. Passenger cars and light trucks (down 13.2%) accounted for most of it. Statistics Canada tied the decline to unplanned production stoppages in the United States in September and to lower light truck production in Canada.
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, imports rose 1.5%. Imports of electronic and electrical equipment and parts jumped 10.3% to a record, and imports of computers and computer peripherals rose 29.4%, mainly processing units from the United States of the type used in data centres.
Trade with the United States
Exports to the United States rose 0.7% for a second straight monthly gain, and imports from the United States rose 0.4%. Canada's surplus with the United States widened from $12.1 billion in August to $12.3 billion in September.
Exports to countries other than the United States fell 1.1%. Their share of total exports slipped from 30.1% to 29.8%.
The quarter and what comes next
For the third quarter as a whole, exports rose 0.2% and imports rose 0.2%, with the quarterly surplus essentially unchanged at $11.2 billion. In real terms, third-quarter exports were down 0.6% and imports down 1.6%.
October trade data are due on December 8.