Trade by exporter and importer characteristics: Services, 2022
Released: 2024-12-09
In 2022, firms operating in the professional services industry and the information services industry led the increase in exports of commercial services. Gains were concentrated in large firms (those with 500 or more employees) in Canada.
Chart 1
Digitally delivered services exports, 2021 and 2022
This release allows for further analysis of cross-border trade in services by adding characteristics to the profile of Canadian enterprises involved in trade in commercial services.
Overall, exports of commercial services rose 3.5% to $120.3 billion in 2022. Commercial services exports from Canadian multinational enterprises (MNEs) increased 8.8% to $38.4 billion in 2022, outpacing growth in exports from foreign MNEs operating in Canada.
The value of services exports that were digitally delivered to foreign markets grew 17.3% in 2022. The share of Canada's commercial services exports digitally delivered to customers abroad—also referred to as digital intensity—continued its upward trend to reach 54% in 2022, up from 48% in 2021. This share was at 39% in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While imports of total commercial services posted a more modest 1.0% increase in 2022 to reach $114.9 billion, imports by firms operating in the professional services industry were 14.4% higher in 2022 than in 2021. Increases were concentrated in large MNEs operating in Canada that engaged in computer systems and advertising services production. The rise was partially offset by declines in the information services industry and the financial services industry and were concentrated in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
MNEs are instrumental in Canada's trade in commercial services activity. They accounted for 85% of total commercial services trade (exports plus imports) in 2022, with foreign MNEs accounting for a larger share (55%) than Canadian MNEs (29%).
Chart 2
Exports and imports, commercial services, by employment size class, 2022
Chart 3
Exports and imports, commercial services, by type of enterprise, 2022
Chart 4
Digitally delivered commercial services, exports of small and medium-sized and large enterprises by multinational enterprise status, 2022
Chart 5
Digitally delivered services exports by exporter characteristics, 2022
Did you know we have a mobile app?
Download our mobile app and get timely access to data at your fingertips! The StatsCAN app is available for free on the App Store and on Google Play.
Note to readers
This release includes information on international trade in services by exporter and importer characteristics, providing further insights on the profile of Canadian enterprises engaged in cross-border commercial services trade from 2010 to 2022.
In this release, a certain share of export values and import values could not be linked to a particular employment size class or multinational status because of limitations in data sources used to compile data on certain commercial services.
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are corporations with majority-owned operations in more than one country. The ownership of more than 50% of voting shares by enterprises outside the country is used to identify foreign MNEs. Canadian MNEs are defined as enterprises based in Canada that own more than 50% of the voting shares of an enterprise abroad. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada can be part of a larger multinational framework. As a result, the analysis of the data by multinational status reflects the activities of these SMEs.
Data on digitally delivered services exports are provided for the dimensions of multinational status and enterprise size class for 2022. Digitally delivered services exporters are primarily identified through Statistics Canada's International Transactions in Commercial Services survey, in which respondents are asked to identify the share of their exports that are digitally delivered per services category, combined with administrative data sources.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
- Date modified: