Canada posts trade surplus for first time since 2019

OTTAWA—JANUARY saw Canada post its first trade surplus since May 2019 as exports surged higher to start the year.

Statistics Canada said Friday that the surplus of $1.4 billion was the largest since July 2014 and compared with a revised deficit of nearly $2 billion in December.

Economists on average had expected a deficit of $1.4 billion for January, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

The trade report follows a flash estimate by Statistics Canada earlier this week that real gross domestic product rose 0.5 per cent in January following growth of 0.1 per cent in December.

TD Bank economist Omar Abdelrahman said the strong international trade report joins a list of other indicators in suggesting a better-than-expected start to 2021 for the Canadian economy.

“It is important to highlight that part of January’s export strength is transitory, including sizable contributions from the volatile aircraft component and unusually high transactions of retail gold bars,” Abdelrahman wrote in a report.

“Still, excluding these components would leave exports (nominal) up more than four per cent on the month.”

Total exports rose 8.1 per cent in January to $51.2 billion, with increases in all product sections, while in real or volume terms exports increased 5.1 per cent.

Exports of aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts rose 72.3 per cent in January as Statistics Canada said a Canadian airline, which it did not identify, retired a large number of aircraft, resulting in their export to the United States.