Canada's commodity trade surplus increased to $ 5.3 billion in May. This is the largest trade surplus since August 2008. The
agency said Thursday that the results were up from the $ 2.2 billion surplus in April.
Exports increased 4.1% to $ 68.4 billion as shipments of energy products increased by 5.7%. Canada exported more than $ 20 billion in energy products such as oil during the month. This was 29.8% of everything the country exported that month, the highest ever.
Demand for other commodities, including Canada's record high exports of potash, has also surged.
"Russia is the world's largest fertilizer exporter, and in the conflict in Ukraine, the demand for fertilizer products exported from other countries is increasing," said Statistics Canada. The
aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts categories grew 34.2% to $ 524 million, thanks to the surge in sales of business jets to the US market.
Low imports
On the other side of the ledger, Canada has low imports from other parts of the world, with imports down 0.7% to $ 63.1 billion. A 4.7% decline in consumer goods imports was a major downside.
Capital Economics economist Stephen Brown said that most of the trade surplus was demand for Canadian commodities. Said that it could lead to a surge in Like oil, food, metals and minerals. He doesn't expect demand to remain as high as it used to be, but he believes there will be no trade deficit, at least for some time.
"I don't think Canada will return to the trade deficit in the near future, as we expect commodity prices to remain relatively high," he said.
