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Canada's merchandise imports rose 5.3% to $37.4 billion in January, led by a 16.6% increase in volumes of automotive products. Overall, import volumes rose 5.5% while prices declined 0.2%. Import volumes have been trending upward since March 2009.
Automotive products and energy products led the growth in the value of imports. A notable increase was also recorded in imports of machinery and equipment.
After a gain of 7.9% in December, exports grew 0.8% to $37.5 billion in January. Export volumes increased 1.0% while prices edged down 0.1%. Volumes of automotive products, up 18.4%, were the main factor behind the gain in exports.
Exports of industrial goods and materials as well as energy products also increased during the month. In contrast, exports of machinery and equipment declined, thereby moderating the overall gain.
As a result, Canada's trade surplus narrowed from $1.7 billion in December to $116 million in January
Imports from the United States rose 6.5%, reflecting strong gains in imports of automotive products while exports, up 3.3%, increased for a fourth consecutive month. Consequently, Canada's trade surplus with the United States declined from $4.3 billion in December to $3.8 billion in January.
After a large gain in December, exports to countries other than the United States fell 5.2%. Conversely, imports increased 3.4%. Hence, Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the United States increased from $2.6 billion in December to $3.6 billion in January.
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 produced for the energy sector 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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