AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)
World

Spike in Canada exports to US leads to surprise January trade surplus

  • Canada's trade surplus with the rest of the world was C$1.41 billion ($1.11 billion) in January, the largest since July 2014. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a deficit of C$1.40 billion.
  • "In a sea of really bad news this is an island paradise. Everything is up," said Peter Hall, chief economist at Export Development Canada.
Published March 5, 2021

OTTAWA: Canada's exports to the United States, its largest trading partner, rose sharply in January, leading to a surprise trade surplus, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Canada's trade surplus with the rest of the world was C$1.41 billion ($1.11 billion) in January, the largest since July 2014. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a deficit of C$1.40 billion.

"In a sea of really bad news this is an island paradise. Everything is up," said Peter Hall, chief economist at Export Development Canada.

"This is very strongly driven by our top trading partner," Hall said, noting that demand from the United States will continue to be strong as its economy strengthens with increased vaccinations spurring a broader recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canadian dollar clawed back some of its earlier decline after the data, trading 0.1% lower at 1.2678 to the greenback, or 78.88 US cents.

Canada's exports jumped 8.1% in January, led by a large sale of used aircraft to the United States. Even without the atypical aircraft sale, aggregate exports would have been up, with strong exports of gold bars, crude oil and lumber.

Excluding the swings of 2020, exports posted their largest increase since August 1995.

"The return to surplus in January ... is consistent with expectations that Canada's trade position will improve through 2021 amid returning global demand and firmer energy prices," said Ryan Brecht, a senior economist at Action Economics.

Canada's export of services rose slightly on an increase in transportation services, but they still remain 16.3% below the February 2020 level.

Imports edged up 0.9% in January, mostly on higher imports of energy products. Canada's December trade deficit was revised to C$1.98 billion.

Comments

Comments are closed.