High oil prices underpin another solid Canada trade surplus

Canada ran another large trade surplus in February, as the nation benefits from surging prices for oil.

The country shipped C$2.7 billion ($2.2 billion) more abroad than it bought from other countries during the month, with exports rising 2.8%, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday. The surplus narrowed from C$3.1 billion in January, as imports increased by more than exports.

The surge in oil prices over the past year has helped the nation swing into recurring surpluses for the first time since 2014, a further boost to an economy that is already up against capacity. Energy exports rose 7.8%, and now account for 26% of total shipments during the month—the highest proportion since 2014.

Most of the overall export gains, however, reflect price increases rather than increased volumes, which were up 0.6% in February.

Blockades at border crossings set up by protesters denouncing Covid-19 restrictions had little impact on trade flows, the agency said, with alternative routes offsetting any losses.

Traffic over the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit—which carries about a quarter of Canada’s trade with the U.S.—was halted for nearly a week in early February. That demonstration was an offshoot of a trucker convoy that descended on Ottawa in late January and occupied the city’s downtown core for weeks, prompting to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke emergency powers to quell the protests.