Energy Sector Masks Challenges Facing Atlantic Exporters [Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, APEC]

A huge increase in revenues from Atlantic Canada’s international energy exports is masking the stagnation in the region’s non-energy sector. International sales of energy products have doubled since 2000 to reach $12.3 billion in 2005. However, aggregate non-energy merchandise exports from the Atlantic provinces have stalled at about $12 billion since 2000. Exporters have had to cope with a 40% appreciation of the Canadian dollar since January 2003, increasing competition from low-cost producers, higher energy and transportation costs, and weak demand in some sectors. This Report Card examines recent export trends in both Atlantic Canada’s traditional sectors and in some of its new sectors that were growing rapidly in the 1990s.