Canada trade surplus hits 15-month high in April on soaring crude prices

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, June 9 (Reuters) - Canada's goods trade surplus in April jumped by 55% to a 15-month high of C$2.72 billion ($1.95 billion), in part because the Iran war has pushed up the price of crude, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a surplus of C$2.57 billion. Statscan revised March's surplus down to C$1.75 billion from an initial C$1.78 billion.

Total exports increased 1.6% in April to reach a record high of C$75.16 billion. Exports of energy products rose 9.7% in April, following an increase of 23.4% in March.

"Both monthly increases were driven by higher prices, which continued to rise in April amid the uncertainty caused by the conflict in Iran," Statscan said in a commentary.

Crude experts, which rose by 7.0%, contributed the most to the gain. Canada is one of the world's leading oil producers.

The overall increase in total exports was offset by a 17.5% decrease in exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products, which had boomed in February and March. Lower shipments of gold to Britain were largely responsible for the fall.

"April was a bit of a tug of war between gold and energy ... 1.6% growth, given everything that's happening in the world, is certainly something we can be quite satisfied with," said Stuart Bergman, chief economist at Export Development Canada.

May data should reflect continued energy export growth, given global supply shortages, he said in a phone interview.

Imports edged up 0.3% to hit a record C$72.44 billion, largely due to a 16.9% increase in imports of basic and industrial chemical, plastic and rubber products.

Analysts said the strong data should ensure positive April GDP data after two successive quarters of negative growth.

"The improvement in Canada's terms of trade since the Iran war suggests that the trade surplus should rise further in the coming months," said Ariane Curtis, senior North America economist at Capital Economics.

Although Ottawa is trying to diversify exports away from the United States amid a trade war between the two countries, the market still dominates Canadian trade.

Exports to the United States grew by 4.8% to C$51.98 billion, representing 69.2% of all trade, the largest share since September 2025.

Imports grew 1.6% to $42.50 billion. As a result, the Canadian surplus with the U.S. rose to C$9.48 billion, the largest since February 2025.

After reaching a record high in March, exports to countries other than the U.S. fell 4.8% in April. This was partially offset by higher exports to China, which reached a record $3.84 billion.

($1=$1.3931 Canadian)

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Dale Smith and Nick Zieminski)