OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian exports to the United States, its largest trading partner, rose sharply in January, leading to more trade surpluses, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Canada’s trade surplus with the rest of the world was at C $ 1.41 billion ($ 1.11 billion) in January, the highest number since July 2014. Analysts conducted by Reuters had forecast a deficit of C $ 1.40 billion.
“In a sea of bad news this is an island paradise. Everything is up, ”said Peter Hall, chief economist at Export Development Canada.
“This is strongly led by our key trading partner,” Hall said, noting that demand from the United States will continue to be strong as its economy continues to recover. fortification with more vaccines gives wider susceptibility to COVID-19 pandemic.
The Canadian dollar reversed some of its earlier decline after the data, trading 0.1% lower at 1.2678 to the green, or 78.88 US cents.
Canadian exports jumped 8.1% in January, led by massive sales of used aircraft to the United States. Even without rare aircraft sales, total exports would have gone up, with strong exports of gold bars, crude oil and timber.
Excluding 2020 movements, exports experienced their largest increase since August 1995.
“The return to surplus in January … is in line with expectations for Canada’s trade situation to improve by 2021 amid global demand and stronger energy prices,” said Ryan Brecht, senior economist at Action Economics.
Exports of Canadian services rose slightly on an increase in transportation services, but are still 16.3% below the February 2020 level.
Exports rose 0.9% in January, mostly on higher imports of energy products. Canada’s trade deficit in December was revised to C $ 1.98 billion.
Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa, additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Dale Smith, Fergal Smith in Toronto; Edited by Paul Simao and Bill Berkrot