Canada's imports and exports dropped in November

January 7, 2020

Statistics Canada announced that the country's merchandise exports declined 1.4% in November to $48.7 billion, while imports were down 2.4% to $49.8 billion, narrowing the merchandise trade deficit from $1.6 billion in October to $1.1 billion in November.

The Federal agency says the widespread declines across both export and import products coincided with the disruptions in Canadian rail transportation caused by the labour conflict at CN.

Energy products drove the overall export decrease, down 7.4% on lower exports of crude oil. Partially offsetting the overall export decrease were higher exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products (+7.3%), which reached a record in November. There were also higher exports of farm, fishing and intermediate food products (+9.6%) in November.

Imports of aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts lead the drop in imports in November (-13.8%). Imports of energy products also declined (-7.5%), mainly due to lower import volumes of natural gas.

On a global perspective, Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the United States narrowed from $6.7 billion in October to $5.3 billion in November. Exports to those countries rose 4.3% in with were record exports to the United Kingdom (gold and crude oil), as well as increased exports to France (canola and soybeans) and Hong Kong (gold). Imports from countries other than the United States fell 4.7%, led by lower imports from China (various products) and Mexico (autos).

Exports to the United States decreased 3.3%, while imports fell 1.1%. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the United States narrowed from $5.1 billion in October to $4.2 billion in November, the smallest surplus since April.