Canadian international merchandise trade, January 2018

Canada's merchandise trade deficit totalled $1.9 billion in January, narrowing from a $3.1 billion deficit in December. Imports decreased 4.3%, mainly due to lower imports of industrial machinery, equipment and parts. Exports fell 2.1%, primarily on fewer exports of passenger cars and light trucks.

Widespread declines in imports

Following a record high in December, total imports were down 4.3% in January to $47.7 billion, with declines in all commodity sections. Industrial machinery, equipment and parts, consumer goods, as well as electronic and electrical equipment and parts were the main contributors to the decline in January. Year over year, imports increased 2.0%.

Imports of industrial machinery, equipment and parts fell 11.3% to $4.5 billion in January, following two consecutive months of strong increases. Imports of logging, mining and construction machinery and equipment (-40.0%), which reached a record high in December, were largely behind the January decline. New regulations on off-road diesel engine and machine emissions came into effect on January 1, 2018, limiting imports to machinery that meets the new standards.

Imports of consumer goods declined 4.6% to $10.0 billion in January. Lower imports of clothing, footwear and accessories (-18.0%) led the decline in January, following a record fourth quarter in 2017. For the entire section, volumes were down 3.0% and prices decreased 1.7%.

Imports of electronic and electrical equipment and parts declined 6.3% to $5.4 billion in January. Communications and audio and video equipment (-10.3%) were largely responsible for the decrease, mainly due to lower imports of cell phones from China. This decline followed high import levels of cell phones in November and December.

This has been excerpted from a 7 March 2018 release by Statistics Canada.