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Canada’s merchandise exports fell 2.5% in June, led by industrial goods and materials. Imports decreased 1.2%, as a result of a significant decline in energy products. Consequently, Canada’s trade deficit with the world widened to $1.1 billion in June from $695 million in May.
Exports declined to $33.5 billion from $34.4 billion in May, as export prices contracted 1.2% and volumes decreased 1.3%. Export volumes had been growing for six consecutive months.
Industrial goods and materials accounted for two-thirds of the decline in the value of overall exports followed by energy products and automotive products. A gain in exports of machinery and equipment mitigated the decrease.
After a solid gain in May, imports declined to $34.6 billion from $35.0 billion. Lower imports of energy products were instrumental to the decrease. Excluding energy products, imports grew 0.9% in June. Higher imports of industrial goods and materials moderated the overall decline.
Import prices fell 1.2% while volumes remained unchanged, after increasing during four consecutive months.
Exports to the United States decreased 1.0%, reflecting the weakness in exports of energy products while imports rose 0.8%. As a result, Canada’s trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $3.0 billion in June from $3.4 billion in May.
Exports to countries other than the United States fell 7.0%, largely a result of declining exports to the European Union. The fall in exports outpaced a 4.6% decrease in imports and consequently, Canada’s trade deficit with countries other than the United States rose to $4.2 billion in June from $4.1 billion in May.
Note to readers
Merchandise trade is one component of Canada's international balance of payments, which also includes trade in services, investment income, current transfers as well as capital and financial flows.
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.
Data in this release are on a balance of payments basis, seasonally adjusted in current dollars. Constant dollars are calculated using the Laspeyres volume formula.
Revisions
In general, merchandise trade data are revised on an ongoing basis for each month of the current year. Current year revisions are reflected in both the customs and balance of payments based data. Revisions to customs based data for the previous year are released on a quarterly basis. Revisions to balance of payments based data for the three previous years are released annually in June.
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.
