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Canadian international merchandise trade

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March 2009 (Previous release)

Canada's merchandise imports and exports both declined in March, largely due to volume reductions. Imports decreased more than twice as fast as exports, leading to the widening of Canada's trade surplus with the world from $262 million in February to $1.1 billion in March.

Exports and imports

Imports fell 4.4% to $31.4 billion as most sectors posted decreases. Energy products registered the largest decline, followed by machinery and equipment, as well as industrial goods and materials. Since the peak of July 2008, imports have fallen by more than $8.0 billion, mainly as a result of declines in the energy products and automotive products sectors.

Exports were down 1.8% to $32.5 billion, largely reflecting a decline in exports to the United States. Increased exports to the European Union moderated the decline. Overall exports have fallen by $11.8 billion since reaching their highest level in July 2008, primarily as a result of lower exports of energy products in the latter part of 2008.

Canada's trade surplus with the United States remained at $3.6 billion in March, virtually unchanged from February. Exports to the United States decreased 4.1% while imports declined 4.7%.

Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the United States narrowed to $2.5 billion in March from $3.3 billion in February, as exports increased 4.5% while imports decreased 3.9%.

While both imports and exports posted gains in February and fell in March, the pace of decline in March was considerably slower than those observed at the end of 2008 and in January 2009.

Note to readers

Merchandise trade is one component of the current account of Canada's balance of payments, which also includes trade in services, investment income and transfers.

International merchandise trade data by country are available on both a balance of payments and a customs basis for the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. Trade data for all other individual countries are available on a customs basis only. Balance of payments data are derived from customs data by making adjustments for characteristics such as valuation, coverage, timing and residency. These adjustments are made to conform to the concepts and definitions of the Canadian System of National Accounts.

Constant dollars referred to in the text are calculated using the Laspeyres volume formula which is current dollars divided by Paasche indexes.

Revisions

In general, merchandise trade data are revised on an ongoing basis for each month of the current year. Current and previous year revisions are reflected in both the customs and balance of payments based data. Revisions to customs based data for the previous year are also released on a quarterly basis.

Factors influencing revisions include late receipt of import and export documentation, incorrect information on customs forms, replacement of estimates with actual figures, changes in classification of merchandise based on more current information and changes to seasonal adjustment factors.

Revised data are available in the appropriate CANSIM tables.

Trade balance

Energy products lead the decline in imports

Energy products fell by 18.4% to $2.3 billion, the lowest level since October 2004. Imports of other energy products, down 33.2%, led the decline while imports of crude petroleum decreased 2.1%. The volume of energy products declined 16.2% in March while prices decreased 2.7%.

Imports of machinery and equipment declined 4.5% to $9.6 billion in March, following a 4.0% increase in February. Aircraft and other transportation equipment as well as industrial and agricultural machinery accounted for almost three-quarters of the decline in imports.

Industrial goods and materials imports were down 4.5% to $6.6 billion, mainly due to volume reduction. Although the declines were broad based, a decline in imports of pipes and tubes for drilling was the main contributor. Volumes have generally been declining in this sector since August 2008.

General decline in exports

Machinery and equipment and automotive products accounted for almost two-thirds of the decline in exports in March, followed by energy products.

Machinery and equipment exports decreased 3.4% to $7.7 billion as volumes declined, largely as a result of lower exports of aircraft and telecommunication equipment. Other transportation equipment moderated the sector's decline on the strength of locomotive exports.

Automotive product exports, trending downward since December 2006, fell 3.3% to $3.4 billion due to decreases in exports of trucks and motor vehicle parts. Exports of passenger autos increased for the second month in a row, following January's plant shutdowns. Overall, the decline in automotive products was mainly due to volume reduction.

Exports of energy products contracted 1.4% to $6.5 billion in March due to a decline in volumes, as prices increased for the first time since July 2008. Lower exports of petroleum and coal products and natural gas were responsible for the weakness in this sector, which has been on a downward trend since June 2008.

Available on CANSIM: tables 228-0001 to 228-0003, 228-0033, 228-0034, 228-0041 to 228-0043 and 228-0047 to 228-0057.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 2201, 2202 and 2203.

The March 2009 issue of Canadian International Merchandise Trade, Vol. 63, no. 3 (65-001-X, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.

Current account data (which incorporate merchandise trade statistics, service transactions, investment income and transfers) are available quarterly in Canada's Balance of International Payments (67-001-X, free).

For more information, contact Nadine Lacroix (toll-free 1-800-294-5583; 613-951-5047). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Mychèle Gagnon (613-951-0994), International Trade Division.

Table 1

Merchandise trade
  February 2009r March 2009 February to March 2009 March 2008 to March 2009
  Seasonally adjusted, $ current
  $ millions % change
Principal trading partners        
Exports        
United States 24,314 23,315 -4.1 -24.4
Japan 893 879 -1.6 18.0
European Union1 2,849 3,289 15.4 4.5
Other OECD countries2 1,312 1,327 1.1 -23.7
All other countries 3,737 3,693 -1.2 -1.8
Total 33,105 32,503 -1.8 -19.2
Imports        
United States 20,708 19,743 -4.7 -10.7
Japan 758 706 -6.9 -29.0
European Union1 3,612 3,282 -9.1 -3.0
Other OECD countries2 1,990 2,139 7.5 8.4
All other countries 5,775 5,529 -4.3 -10.2
Total 32,843 31,398 -4.4 -9.3
Balance        
United States 3,606 3,572 ... ...
Japan 135 173 ... ...
European Union1 -763 7 ... ...
Other OECD countries2 -678 -812 ... ...
All other countries -2,038 -1,836 ... ...
Total 262 1,105 ... ...
Principal commodity groupings        
Exports        
Agricultural and fishing products 3,431 3,381 -1.5 1.5
Energy products 6,578 6,487 -1.4 -38.7
Forestry products 1,832 1,756 -4.1 -13.4
Industrial goods and materials 7,065 7,063 0.0 -22.3
Machinery and equipment 7,991 7,722 -3.4 3.5
Automotive products 3,528 3,411 -3.3 -35.0
Other consumer goods 1,638 1,691 3.2 16.6
Special transactions trade3 605 594 -1.8 -7.2
Other balance of payments adjustments 437 398 -8.9 -6.8
Imports        
Agricultural and fishing products 2,539 2,533 -0.2 14.3
Energy products 2,795 2,280 -18.4 -38.2
Forestry products 215 214 -0.5 -10.8
Industrial goods and materials 6,925 6,616 -4.5 -9.5
Machinery and equipment 10,095 9,642 -4.5 -1.1
Automotive products 4,081 4,143 1.5 -27.1
Other consumer goods 5,076 4,861 -4.2 8.8
Special transactions trade3 439 458 4.3 -11.8
Other balance of payments adjustments 677 652 -3.7 -11.5
revised
not applicable
Includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
Other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) include Australia, Canada, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.
These are mainly low valued transactions, value of repairs to equipment, and goods returned to country of origin.
Note(s):
Totals may not equal the sum of their components.