Canada's Merchandise Trade with Asia Pacific
The composition of Canada’s imports from Asia is essentially similar to Canada’s imports from the rest of the world, concentrated in the automotive and electronics sectors. Our exports to Asia feature a higher degree of concentration, and they are more heavily commodity-based, than are our exports to the rest of the world. Coal, oils, metals and wood and woodpulp items dominate, followed by agriculture products.
| Canada’s Merchandise Trade with Asia Pacific, 2010 | ||||
| Canadian Imports from Asia Pacific | Canadian Exports to Asia Pacific | |||
| Merchandise Classification | % | Merchandise Classification | % | |
| 1 | Electrical machinery and equipment | 21.44 | Mineral fuels, oils | 11.88 |
| 2 | Boilers, mechanical appliances, etc. | 17.27 | Woodpulp; paper or paperboard scraps | 9.51 |
| 3 | Motor vehicles, trailers, bicycles, motorcycles | 11.00 | Ores, slag and ash | 7.42 |
| 4 | Furniture and stuffed furnishings | 4.03 | Oil seeds and misc. fruit, grain, etc. | 7.35 |
| 5 | Toys, games, sports equipment | 3.98 | Wood and wood articles, charcoal | 5.68 |
| 6 | Knitted or crocheted apparel | 3.90 | Boilers, mechanical appliances, etc. | 5.63 |
| 7 | Woven clothing and apparel articles | 3.61 | Cereals | 4.35 |
| 8 | Iron or steel articles | 3.38 | Meat and edible meat offal | 4.25 |
| 9 | Optical, medical, scientific, technical instrumentation | 2.71 | Fertilizers | 3.84 |
| 10 | Plastic and plastic articles | 2.29 | Nickel and nickel articles | 3.59 |
| Top 10 as % of total from Asia Pacific | 73.59 | Top 10 as % of total to Asia Pacific | 63.50 | |
| Asia Pacific Imports as % of Cdn Total | 15.24 | Asia Pacific Exports as % of Cdn Total | 6.45 | |
Source: Trade Data Online. Industry Canada. 12 April 2011. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tdo-dcd.nsf/eng/Home
Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada.
Notes:
1. The table is based on Harmonised System (HS) codes at the 6-digit level. Commodities are assigned these codes in order that accurate trade records can be kept, tariffs collected appropriately, customs procedures followed, and so forth. The HS system of codes, at its most disaggregated, assigns a 10-digit code to a given item. As the degree of aggregation increases, the number of digits in the code decreases. Thus, for example, the 6-digit HS code assigned to a motor vehicle with a spark-type ignition and a cylinder capacity of more than 3000 cc is 870323. The 2-digit HS code (in this case it is 87) includes not only this type of vehicle, but also many other types of vehicles and a wide variety of vehicle accessories and parts. To learn more about the HS Code system used by Statistics Canada go to http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tdo-dcd.nsf/eng/h_00048.html.
2. For the purposes of this table, Asia is defined as: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.