Canada's Trade Balance Would Be Worse Without Gold, Says BMO

06:30 AM EDT, 10/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canada's trade data have been pushed around this year by some big swings in gold exports and imports, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Gold, silver and platinum exports fell almost 12% month over month in August, but are still up 13% from a year ago, noted the bank.

Looking through the swings -- and more importantly -- exports of these precious metals have hit a towering $58 billion over the past year. That's up 33% from the previous year and a whopping 7.4% of total Canadian exports, stated BMO.

For perspective, that's more than the export value of all agricultural products, forest products, or natural gas, pointed out the bank.

Removing gold from the equation reveals a clearer deterioration in net Canadian trade this year, added BMO.

After being almost precisely in balance in 2022, trade has sagged into a hefty deficit -- an $8.2 billion gap in August.

Still, the gap was even larger in Q2, so underlying trade does look like it will "modestly" support overall growth in Q3, according to the bank.

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