Statistics Canada announced on Thursday that Canada’s merchandise trade deficit stood at CAD0.68 billion in May, narrowing from a revised CAD4.27-billion gap in April (originally a CAD3.25-billion gap). That was the smallest trade gap since November 2019.

Economists had expected a deficit of CAD3.00 billion.

According to the report, Canada’s exports increased 6.7 percent m-o-m to $34.61 billion in May, driven by higher exports of motor vehicles and parts (+76.2 percent m-o-m), energy products (+14.5 percent m-o-m), consumer goods (+9.5 percent m-o-m) and farm, fishing and intermediate food products (+9.1 percent m-o-m).

Meanwhile, imports dropped 3.9 percent m-o-m to $35.29 billion in May, the lowest level since November 2010, with the lower imports of basic and industrial chemical, plastic and rubber products (-14.4 percent m-o-m) contributing the most to the decrease.