By Robb M. Stewart
OTTAWA--Canada's goods-trade surplus with the rest of the world narrowed in November as a jump in shipments of energy products drove a rebound in imports and exports fell for the first time since June.
The country posted a fourth consecutive monthly merchandise-trade surplus of 1.57 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $1.17 billion, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. That was lower than the C$2 billion surplus expected by economists and comes after October's surplus was revised up by $230 million to $3.2 billion.
Merchandise exports fell 0.6% to C$65.74 billion in the latest month, largely due to declines in movements of mineral products and air aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts. Stripping out those two components, and exports increased 1.0% in November, the data agency said.
Canadian exports of energy products were up 1.3% for the month.
Exports to countries other than the U.S. fell 4.2% for the month, driven largely by a drop in exports of other transport equipment to Saudi Arabia and unwrought gold to Switzerland. Exports to the U.S. were up 0.4% on the month before.
In price-adjusted, or volume, terms, overall exports around the world edged down 0.1% from October.
On the imports side, purchases from abroad increased 1.9% to C$64.17 billion, recovering from October's sharp pullback, the agency said. In volume terms, November imports were up 1.6%.
Imports of energy products jumped 11.6% after declines the two previous months, buoyed by shipments of uranium from Kazakhstan following no significant imports of uranium between April and October.
Imports of refined petroleum products also contributed to November's rise, due to increased exports of gasoline and aviation fuel from the U.S. that coincided with outages reported by Canadian refineries in the fall, Statistics Canada said.
Imports of goods from the U.S. were up 1.7%, resulting in a trade surplus with Canada's neighbor of C$11.69 billion, narrowed from October's C$12.15 billion.
Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the U.S. widened to roughly C$10.1 billion in November from C$9.0 billion the previous month.
When international trade in goods and international trade in services were combined, Canadian exports were down 0.3%, while imports rose 1.5%. As a result, Canada's trade surplus incorporating both goods and services narrowed to C$594 million from C$2.04 billion in October.
Economic output in Canada has cooled sharply in recent months under the weight of high interest rates, and the central bank projects a period of weaker growth before picking up in late 2024. Gross domestic product contracted on an annualized basis in the third quarter of the year with a drop in international exports and a slower inventory buildup by businesses.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-09-24 0854ET
