Canada trade deficit widens in September to Can$3.3bn

OTTAWA: Canada’s trade deficit widened in September to Can$3.3 billion (US$2.5 billion) as both exports and imports rose 1.5 percent but remained down from pre-pandemic levels, the national statistical agency said Wednesday.

The figure was up from a Can$3.2 billion deficit in August, which Statistics Canada revised significantly upward in this month’s report. Economics had forecast a Can$2.2 billion trade deficit in September.

The deficit, commented CIBC analyst Royce Mendes, was “materially worse” than expected.

“While the main positive from the report was that two-way trade rose in September, suggesting that activity continued to recover, the wider-than-anticipated deficit indicates that Canada’s trade challenges are not going away anytime soon,” he said in a research note.

According to the data, Canadian exports rose to Can$45.5 billion in the month, led by higher sales abroad of lumber — which rose for a fifth consecutive month to its highest level in 14 years — and aircrafts.

Short supplies and higher demand for lumber for construction work and home renovations combined to push up prices, while the uptick in aircraft exports was attributed to more purchases of business jets in the United States, Norway and Britain.

Higher exports of passenger cars and light trucks were also recorded in the month.

These increases, however, were attenuated by a drop in exports of medication used in the treatment of depressive disorders, and of precious metals and gold coins to the United States.—AFP