OTTAWA: Canadian export growth will be muted in 2015 as a 23 per cent drop in the value of energy exports wipes out gains in other areas, according a forecast from Export Development Canada.
Exports of aircraft and parts, motor vehicles and parts, industrial equipment, advanced technology, fertilizers and consumer goods are expected to surge this year as the falling Canadian dollar coincides with an expanding U.S. economy.
U.S. consumer optimism and constraints in American industrial capacity are going to be a key driver of global economic growth for the next two years, according to EDC, which is Canada’s trade development agency.
Surging U.S. demand has gobbled up the spare capacity in its industrial machine,” EDC chief economist Peter Hall said in a news release. “Producers are cash-rich, and are looking for new places to invest their surplus capital.”
That will be good for all of Canada’s manufacturing sector, especially aerospace and automotive, the EDC said in its report on the global export outlook.