A slump in aircraft sales led to a third straight monthly drop in Canadian exports in June, which narrowed the trade surplus to C$5.27 billion ($4.97 billion) from C$5.87 billion in May, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.
Imports grew to C$34.05 billion from C$33.86 billion, as purchases of industrial goods and machinery and equipment more than offset declines in all other sectors. Exports fell to C$39.32 billion from C$39.73 billion. Indeed, the surplus was narrower than economists' median forecast of C$5.6 billion in a Reuters survey. The surplus with the United States was unchanged at C$7.65 billion.
Exports in the aircraft sector, which had seen strong gains in January and May, fell by C$388 million to C$1.24 billion. Automotive exports also declined, for a third month in a row, by 1.7 percent, as some plants closed earlier than usual in preparation for new models.
Energy exports edged up 0.1 percent to C$7.9 billion, and exports of chemicals, plastics and fertilisers set a new high of C$3.2 billion, partly on the strength of uranium sales as countries expand nuclear capacities, the federal agency said.
With uranium prices 10 times higher than in 2001, the sector has become increasingly important to Canada, the world's largest uranium producer, the agency said. In the first six months of 2007, exports jumped 162 percent to C$2.3 billion from C$863 million a year earlier. Statistics Canada said rising exports of crude oil - due to higher volumes as prices fell 3.1 percent - and natural gas offset falling exports of refined oil and coal products. Energy imports fell 1.0 percent to C$3.1 billion, largely on a lower volume of crude imports.
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