By Robb M. Stewart
OTTAWA–Canada’s goods-trade surplus with the rest of the world widened more than expected in September to the largest in 15 months as crude oil drove another month of increased exports.
The country posted a merchandise-trade surplus of 2.04 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $1.49 billion, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The consensus forecast was for a C$950 million surplus.
August’s surplus, the first since April, was revised up by C$231 million to $949 million.
Merchandise exports were up for a third straight month, climbing 2.7% to C$67.03 billion in the latest month, the most since June 2022. The advance was buoyed by higher prices, with exports in volume terms up just 0.4%
Exports of energy products jumped 10.6% for the month, representing more than one-quarter of the country’s total exports, which was the highest share since last October. Crude oil exports was the main driver, largely thanks to higher prices with the extension of voluntary production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners.
Imports in September were up 1% to C$64.99 billion, building on August’s increase to almost offset the drop in July after trade was disrupted on Canada’s west coast when port workers walked off the job over wages. Imports of motor vehicles and parts were up for a sixth consecutive month, driven by shipments from Mexico, though the data agency noted imports from the U.S. were relatively stable despite the disruption of auto-industry strikes.
In real, or volume, terms, imports for the month were up 1.7%.
Exports to the U.S., Canada’s biggest export market by a wide margin, increased 2.6% from the month before, while imports were up 1.7%. That widened Canada’s surplus with its neighbor to C$11.66 billion, also the biggest since mid-2022, from C$11.01 billion the month before.
Exports to countries other than the U.S. increased 2.7% in September, while on the imports side purchases from abroad edged down 0.2%. That narrowed Canada’s merchandise trade deficit with countries other than the U.S. to roughly C$9.6 billion from C$10.1 billion the previous month.
When international trade in goods and international trade in services were combined, Canadian exports rose 2.2%, while imports were up 0.8%. As a result, Canada’s trade surplus incorporating both goods and services swung to a surplus of C$462 million from a deficit in August of C$633 million.
Economic output in Canada has cooled sharply in recent months under the weight of higher borrowing costs and headwinds from labor strikes and forest fires. Industry-level gross domestic product was essentially unchanged for a second straight month in August, and advance information indicates the economy was again effectively flat in September as increases in output by construction and public sectors was offset by decreases in utilities and in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction.
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