Canada’s merchandise imports declined 1.6% while exports went up 0.2% in January, reducing our international trade deficit from $922 million in December to $177 million in January.
And how about trade between Canada and Belgium ?
Concerning trade with Belgium, Canadian exports amounted to $252 million in November but went down to $133 million in December, then down again to $125 million in January. Canadian imports from Belgium, on their side, amounted to $190 million in November, went down to $152 million in December and down again to $133 million in January. As we can see, our bilateral trade appears to have slowed down and it will be interesting to see its evolution in the coming months.
Going back to Canada: Imports declined to $40.8 billion, the main contributors being motor vehicles and parts (-5.9%), energy products (-7.3%), metal ores and non-metallic minerals (-16.8%), aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts (-10.3%). Imports of electronic and electrical equipment and parts grew 2.6% and metal and non-metallic mineral products 3.8%.
Exports edged up to $40.6 billion, led by energy products (+9.2%), farm, fishing and intermediate food products (+7.4%) and consumer goods (+3.8%). These were offset by decreases in exports of motor vehicles and parts (-11%) and metal ores and non-metallic minerals (-11%).
Imports from the United States declined 1.8% to $27.1 billion, as imports of motor vehicles and parts as well as aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts fell. Exports to the United States went down a mere 0.1% to $30.7 billion, bringing our trade surplus with the United States from $3.2 billion in December up to $3.6 billion in January.
Exports to countries other than the United States grew 1.3% to $10 billion, with increases in exports to the trading area “all other countries” (+9.3%) partially offset by declines to Japan (-20.1%). Imports from countries other than the United States declined 1.2% to $13.8 billion. Lower imports of crude oil and crude bitumen from Norway led to an 8.6% decrease in imports from the trading area “other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries”, partially offset by a 5.4% increase in imports from the European Union. Canada’s trade deficit with these countries thus narrowed from $4.1 billion in December to $3.8 billion in January.
South of the border meantime, statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau showed U.S. January exports of $192.5 billion and imports of $231.6 billion, resulting in a slight increase of their goods and services deficit of $39.1 billion in January, up from $39 billion in December.
The December to January increase in U.S. exports of goods came from industrial supplies and materials, capital and consumer goods while exports of foods, feeds and beverages and automotive vehicles, parts and engines were down. The increase in imports of goods reflected increases in industrial supplies and materials, capital goods and foods, feeds and beverages, with automotive vehicles, parts and engines and consumer goods decreasing.
Christian Sivière Christian.siviere@videotron.ca All Rights Reserved March 2014
Source: Statistics Canada, U.S. Census Bureau
Canada’s Exports & Imports
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