An Update - Canadian Non-Energy Exports: Past Performance and Future Prospects

In light of the fact that Canada was continuing to lose market share in the United States, Binette, de Munnik and Gouin-Bonenfant (2014) studied 31 Canadian non-energy export (NEX) categories to assess their individual performance. From this list, about half were expected to lead the recovery in exports. Since that time, NEX growth has picked up: about 80 per cent of the 31 categories have grown in line with, or outperformed, their respective U.S. benchmarks. Furthermore, about half are currently showing upward momentum. Many export categories highly sensitive to the exchange rate have been a key source of strength, as they benefited from the further depreciation of the Canadian dollar. In addition, a more granular analysis finds that export product categories are emerging or re-emerging from low levels. On the downside, however, some categories closely linked to commodity prices have been affected by weak activity and lower prices.