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Canada's merchandise imports declined 3.2% to $34.4 billion in November, led by a 15.1% fall in volumes of energy products. Overall, import volumes fell 2.4% and prices, down 0.8%, decreased for a fourth consecutive month.
Energy products and machinery and equipment were the main factors behind the decrease in the value of imports. Conversely, imports of industrial goods and materials rose, as a result of solid gains in imports of precious metals.
Exports increased 0.8% to $34.3 billion, as prices, up 2.8%, rose in most sectors. Prices of industrial goods and materials increased 3.9% and led the growth in overall exports.
Export volumes fell 2.0%, with volumes of automotive products declining 10.0% as some plants closed temporarily in November.
As a result, Canada's trade deficit with the world narrowed to $81 million in November from $1.5 billion in October.
Exports to the United States increased 0.6% while imports fell 5.1%, reflecting a drop in imports of automotive products. Consequently, Canada's trade surplus with the United States rose to $3.0 billion in November from $1.7 billion in October.
Exports to countries other than the United States grew 1.1%, a fifth consecutive month of increase, while imports remained virtually unchanged. As a result, Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the United States declined from $3.2 billion in October to $3.1 billion in November.
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.
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