B.C.’s Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment announced today that the province’s January domestic exports exceeded $2.4 billion, an increase of more than $410 million from January 2010.
The announcement follows a Statistics Canada report released yesterday that indicated Canadian domestic exports overall were worth $34.1 billion in January, a 12% increase compared with January 2010. (See “Canada’s trade surplus drops as imports and exports rise ” – BIV Business Today, March 10.)
B.C.’s forestry products exports led the way with a 21% rise to $691 million. Increases were also noted in exports of energy products, up 10%; industrial goods, up 58%; and agricultural and fishing products, up nearly 11%.
Domestic exports to Asia totalled $977 million in January, a 37% increase from January 2010. Exports to China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were all up by more than 20% with China recording a 79% year-over-year gain.
Margaret MacDiarmid, minister of tourism, trade and investment, noted that “these export numbers powerfully demonstrate the importance of Asia to B.C.’s economy.”
B.C. exports to the U.S. were the highest at $1.09 billion, a 3% increase from the same month last year.
Strong gains were also reported to Mexico and European countries, led by exports to the U.K. and Germany.
In 2010, domestic exports from British Columbia were worth $28.7 billion, a near 15% increase over the previous year. Some 41% of B.C.’s exports in 2010 were shipped to Asia, the highest percentage of any Canadian province. (See “2010 was boom year for B.C. trade with Asia ” – BIV Business Today, February 25.)