Canada Posts Surprise Trade Deficit, Exports Down
(Reuters – David Ljunggren)
A drop in exports meant Canada posted an unexpected trade deficit of C$885 million ($868 million) in October, reflecting economic problems in the United States and Europe, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday. Market operators had forecast a surplus of C$600 million after the revised C$1.03 billion surplus in September.
After three consecutive monthly increases exports fell by 3.0% to C$38.37 billion on lower shipments of industrial goods and materials – in particular metals and alloys – as well as energy products. Imports grew by 1.9% to a record high C$39.26 billion on higher imports of machinery and equipment. Read more here.
summary statistics and links to the data files are on the Statistics Canada website here. Export and import price indexes can be found here.
Date: December 9, 2011
