Falling Dollar Boosts October Import Prices: Statscan

(The Canadian Press)

Statistics Canada reports the country’s trade balance with the world narrowed to $3.8 billion from $4.3 billion in September, the second straight monthly contraction as imports grew more than exports.

The agency says October trade was greatly influenced by a 10.7% decline in the value of the Canadian dollar against its U.S. counterpart and by a sharp drop in energy, food and industrial material commodity prices on world markets. The decline in the exchange rate was the largest single-month drop on record.

Import and export prices rose 8% and 4.2% respectively in October.In current dollars, imports increased 4.1% to $39.7 billion, rising in all sectors except automotive products. It was the sixth increase in seven months. In constant dollar terms, imports fell 3.6%.

The value of exports in current dollars rose 2.5% to $43.5 billion after two months of decline. All sectors except automotive products contributed to the gain. In constant dollar terms, exports fell 1.6%.

The growth in imports from the United States surpassed the growth in exports by over $900 million in October. Consequently, Canada’s trade surplus with the United States continued to narrow for the fourth month in a row, totalling $7.3 billion.

Summary statistics and links to the data files are on the Statistics Canada website at here. Export and import price indexes can be found here.