Canadian energy product exports drop 28.7%

Canada‘s energy product exports decreased 28.7% in 2020, to C $ 88.828 million, according to Statistics Canada.

The result implied an annual decrease similar to that observed in 2009.

Energy products were the main export sector for goods, representing about 20% of Canada’s total exports over the last decade.

In December, exports of energy products increased by 10.2% to 7.5 billion dollars.

However, this value was 670 million below the level recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic in February.

Crude exports (+ 10.5%) registered the largest increase, thanks to strong prices.

Meanwhile, crude oil exports totaled 5.3 billion dollars in December, more than 1.9 billion less than the value observed in December 2019.

This year-on-year difference is mainly due to a drop in prices.

Energy product

Also, exports of refined petroleum products (+ 28.8%) increased in December, mainly due to higher exports of diesel fuel to the United States.

Higher prices and volumes were observed for exports of refined petroleum products in December.

Pandemic

The efforts needed to contain Covid-19 have caused a sudden and deep contraction in economic activity and employment around the world.

This has prompted a flight to safety and a sharp price revision for a wide range of assets.

It has also pushed down the prices of raw materials, especially oil.

As a result, in March 2020, the Bank lowered its target for the overnight rate by 150 basis points to its effective lower limit of 25 basis points.

Furthermore, as key financial markets tightened, the Bank of Canada established several large-scale asset purchase programs to increase liquidity in major financial markets.

The Bank made purchases of at least $ 5 billion per week of Government of Canada bonds.

Several other programs were introduced, such as the Canada Mortgage Bond Purchase Program, the Bank Acceptance Purchase Service, and the Provincial Money Market Purchase Program.