Canada Trade Statistics 2009

Top Canadian Exports and Imports

Feb 23, 2010
Daniel Workman

Made in Canada Passenger Cars - jonrawlinson (Flickr)

Canada's exports and imports fell by over 25% last year, pushing Canada into a trade deficit position. A few niche product categories did manage to post gains, however.

After achieving an impressive US$459.1 billion in exports sales in 2008, Canada saw its global exports shrink by 35% to $298.5 billion during 2009. Canada imported $305.2 billion worth of products from the rest of world last year, down 26.5% from $415.2 billion in 2008.

Canada became an international trade loser in 2009, with money flowing out of the country for imports outpacing payments for exports by $6.7 billion. That trade deficit represents a loss of over $50 billion from Canada’s trade surplus of $43.9 billion in 2008.

Canadian Trade with USA in 2009

According to the latest US Census Bureau statistics, the value of Canadian exports to the U.S. fell 33.8% to $224.9 billion for 2009.

Canada imported $204.7 billion worth of American trade items in 2009. That amount is a 21.6% decline from $261.1 billion in the prior year.

Due to heavy losses in Canadian exports to American importers, Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. has declined almost 75% from $78.3 billion to $20.1 billion for 2009.

Below is an analysis of the bestselling exports and imports that Canadian and American trading partners exchanged during 2009.

Top 10 Exports from Canada to US

Among the top 10 exports from Canada to the U.S. in 2009, 9 product categories showed significant double-digit losses from the prior year. Only pharmaceutical preparations exports from Canada managed to show even a modest gain over 2008.

Crude oil … US$36.9 billion, down 41.2% from 2008 (16.4% of exports)
Passenger cars … $22.7 billion, down 27.5% (10.1%)
Natural gas … $12.4 billion, down 59.6% (5.5%)
Automotive parts … $7.6 billion, down 37.6% (3.4%)
Other petroleum products … $5.7 billion, down 34.4% (2.5%)
Pharmaceutical preparations … $5 billion, up 4.4% (2.2%)
Aluminum … $4.7 billion, down 38.4% (2.1%)
Other belting, boxes and glass … $4.63 billion, down 16.7% (2.1%)
Fuel oil … $4.58 billion, down 31.3% (2%)
Notions, art and writing supplies … $3.9 billion, down 34.8% (1.7%).

Fastest-Growing Canadian Exports

Despite the overall 33.8% drop in Canadian exports to the U.S., some niche products experienced healthy percentage increases during the year.

Non-military spacecraft … US$5.9 million, up 161.5% from 2008
Precious and semiprecious gem stones … $23.2 million, up 73%
Natural rubber … $1.5 million, up 66.9%
Cotton, wool and other natural fibers … $14.4 million, up 42.1%
Other military equipment … $707.9 million, up 40.5%
Numismatic coins (collectibles) … $828.1 million, up 24.7%
Video equipment … $224 million, up 19.9%
Tea, spices and preparations … $121.7 million, up 16.2%
Other non-agriculture foods … $213.2 million, up 15.8%
Truck and bus chassis… $389.5 million, up 7.1%.

Top Imports into Canada from U.S.

Among Canada’s top 10 imports from American exporters in 2009, 9 product categories had double-digit sales decreases as high as 42.8% for passenger cars. The only exception was imported U.S. pharmaceutical preparations, which increased sales by a third.

Automotive parts … US$14.5 billion, down 28.8% from 2008 (7.1% of imports)
Buses, trucks and special purpose vehicles … $8.8 billion, down 17.9% (4.3%)
Passenger cars … $8.4 billion, down 42.8% (4.1%)
Other industrial machines … $6.3 billion, down 19% (3.1%)
Civilian aircraft including parts … $5.5 billion, down 17.3% (2.7%)
Electric apparatus … $5.2 billion, down 17.5% (2.5%)
Pharmaceutical preparations … $4.7 billion, up 33% (2.3%)
Other industrial supplies … $4.5 billion, down 14.9% (2.2%)
Plastic materials … $4.3 billion, down 27.9% (2.1%)
Industrial engines … $4.1 billion, down 13.8% (2%).

Fastest-Growing Canadian Imports from America

Out of 142 product categories, 16 American exports to Canada showed positive growth in sales over 2009. Among the 10 leading U.S. growth imports into Canada, 8 product categories below had double-digit gains or better.

Audio and visual tapes … US$77.3 million, up 642.6% from 2008
Unmanufactured tobacco … $10.2 million, up 222.5%
Nuclear fuel materials… $108.9 million, up 89.9%
Military trucks and armored vehicles … $182.7 million, up 43.7%
Pharmaceutical preparations … $4.7 billion, up 33%
Wine and related products … $418.4 million, up 14.9%
Other commercial vessels … $36.2 million, up 11.5%
Artillery, guns, missiles and tanks … $193.9 million, up 10.4%
Rice … $201.8 million, up 7.6%
Bakery and confectionary products … $2.2 billion, up 6.4%.

Canada’s Competitive Trade Advantages and Disadvantages

During 2009, Canada exported $36.9 billion worth of crude oil to the U.S. while paying $1 billion for crude petroleum products imported from America. Similarly, Canadian auto makers shipped $22.7 billion worth of passenger cars to the U.S. Because Canada has a smaller population, Canadians imported just $8.4 billion in American passenger automobiles.

Canadian exporters sold $35.9 billion more in crude oil shipments than Canadian importers paid out for comparable American petroleum products. As for passenger vehicles, Canada garnered $14.3 billion more in revenues for passenger car exports than was paid out for imported American passenger cars.

Clearly, Canada has strong competitive advantages trading crude oil and passenger cars with the U.S.

The problem is that those 2 Canadian export product categories:

Represented over a quarter of Canadian exports to America in 2009
Suffered respective cutbacks of 41.2% and 27.5% during the year.

Rice is an example of a commodity where the U.S. holds a distinct competitive advantage. America sold $201.8 million in rice to Canadian importers in 2009, while buying little imported Canadian rice.

Sources:This analysis is based on latest statistics from the US Census Bureau - Foreign Trade Statistics and CIA World Factbook as of the date of article publication.