Balance of Trade

Canada's Balance of Trade is the monthly goods trade balance published by Statistics Canada. It equals goods exports minus goods imports on a balance of payments basis, which records ownership change between residents and nonresidents. Figures are seasonally adjusted, which removes regular seasonal patterns for trend comparison, and valued in current Canadian dollars. It covers all merchandise transactions, a full census with no sampling, but excludes services, investment income, transfers and financial flows.

Statistics Canada releases the data monthly in The Daily at 8:30 Eastern Time, about 35 days after the reference month. Dates are preset a year ahead and published jointly with the United States Census Bureau under a data exchange in place since 1990. The statistical month ends on the last calendar day by customs clearance, with late documents added as revisions in the next release. Each release shows exports, imports and balance by product and for 27 partners, with services trade, price and quantity splits and ongoing revisions.

The balance moves with exports and imports, split between the United States and the rest of the world, 27 principal trading partners and product sections.

• Energy products: crude oil, bitumen, natural gas and refined petroleum, the largest export section and main source of revisions.
• Motor vehicles and transportation equipment: passenger cars, aircraft and parts, with sharp monthly swings from supply chain shifts.
• Industrial machinery and electronic equipment: capital goods and electronics, traded as both exports and imports.
• Metal ores and metal products: ores and unwrought gold, where large gold shipments can move the monthly total.
• Farm, chemical and forestry products: crops, chemicals and lumber, linked to harvests, seasons and United States demand.
• Consumer goods and special transactions: medicines, apparel, returns and unallocated payments adjustments.

The June 2022 release, published August 4, 2022, shows how these mechanics combine. Exports rose 2.0% to $69.9 billion and imports rose 1.7% to $64.9 billion, with surplus up from $4.8 billion to $5.0 billion. Energy exports rose 3.2% to $21.0 billion, a record 30.0% share, for a sixth straight export gain, while lumber-led forestry exports fell 6.6%.

The United States surplus fell from $13.6 billion to $13.2 billion while the other-countries deficit eased from $8.8 billion to $8.2 billion. Including services, exports rose 1.9% to $82.7 billion and imports rose 1.9% to $78.9 billion. The combined surplus edged up from $3.7 billion to $3.8 billion.

1. Customs-basis totals: Build customs totals from import declarations and export declarations, with United States exports taken from United States import records. Imports exclude international freight and insurance, exports include domestic freight to exit, with foreign amounts at monthly average rates.

1. Balance of payments adjustments: Convert customs values to ownership-change concepts by country of export, with added coverage and actual energy values. Crude oil, gas and electricity use energy regulator or survey estimates early, then replaced with actuals.

1. Seasonal adjustment: Remove regular seasonal and calendar effects so monthly trends can be compared, keeping both adjusted and unadjusted series. Prices use Paasche indexes and volumes use the Laspeyres formula, both at 2012=100. Chained Fisher constant-dollar series are also published.

1. Balance: Subtract adjusted imports from adjusted exports in current dollars, with positive results called surplus and negative called deficit. For example, $60.0 billion exports minus $58.0 billion imports equals a $2.0 billion surplus.