Alberta exports rebounded in December after a sluggish November, says ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team.
In a report released Wednesday, ATB said the province’s merchandise exports rose by 18.6 per cent in December following a 13 per cent decline in November linked to the Keystone oil pipeline being offline for two weeks and the week-long CN Rail strike.
“Energy product exports from Alberta were up $1.5 billion in December (25.7 per cent) and account for the majority of the overall rise in exports,” said ATB in its daily economic update The Owl.
“Chemical exports also rebounded in December, growing by $189 million (37.8 per cent). Although down compared to the previous December, forestry products also saw improvement, rising by $42 million (14.7 per cent) compared to November.
“Several sub-sectors saw the value of their exports decline in November including consumer goods (-17.7 per cent), agricultural products (-12.1 per cent), and metal and non-metallic mineral products (-18.0 per cent).”
ATB said that on an annual basis Albert exports fell by 0.6 per cent in 2019 to $655.5 million.
“The main reason for the annual decline is reduced agricultural exports to China in the face of the Chinese government’s ban on canola and meat from Canada. Agricultural exports to China were down by $911 billion in 2019. The ban on meat has been lifted but the ban on canola remains in place,” said ATB.
It added that Alberta’s annual exports to the United States grew modestly by 0.3 per cent ($356 million) in 2019 with energy exports up by 1.3 per cent ($1.0 billion).
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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