Canadian foreign trade down in January

Canada’s international trade took a battering in January, with exports falling 9 percent and imports off 7.9 percent, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Exports totaled $31.7 billion, while imports were valued at $32.7 billion, the agency said.

That widened Canada’s international trade deficit to $993 million in January from $652 million in December 2008, StatsCan said.

Exports to the United States fell 8.9 percent to $23.3 billion, largely reflecting drops in automotive products and crude petroleum, the report said. With an 8.4 percent decrease in imports from the United States, Canada’s trade deficit shrank to $3 billion in January 2009 from $3.4 billion in December.

Exports to all other countries fell 9.3 percent while imports decreased 7 percent, leaving Canada’s trade deficit at $4 billion, virtually unchanged from December, the report said.

The worst blow was suffered by the export of automotive products, which were down 34.5 percent to $3 billion. Within that sector, passenger cars shrank 44.1 percent to $1.4 billion as new vehicle sales in the United States fell in January 2009 to their lowest level since 1982, the agency said.