Home Trade and Investment State Trade Fact Sheets 2005 West Virginia

West Virginia

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• 25,000 West Virginia jobs are supported by Canada-U.S. trade
• Total Canada–U.S. merchandise trade: $411 billion
• Canada–U.S. trade supported 5.2 million U.S. jobs
• Canada-West Virginia trade increased $325 million from 2003 to 2004
• Heating up trade–West Virginia supplied Canada with $218 million in coal last year

Perched on the summit...
Canada maintained its position as the primary export destination for West Virginian products last year, receiving 30% of the state’s total foreign-bound goods. Canada-West Virginia trade reached $2.1 billion in 2004, an increase of 19% from the previous year. The state supplied Canada with $1.1 billion in goods in exchange for $912 million in Canadian products. Overall, Canada was a market for more goods than West Virginia’s next two largest trading partners combined.

A road well traveled...
Transportation represented the largest Canada-West Virginia trade sector last year, generating revenue worth $581 million. The Mountain State sold its northern neighbor $411 million in transportation goods, the majority of which were in motor vehicle parts (excluding engines) worth $345 million. This was reciprocated by the purchase of $170 million in Canadian transportation goods. The state’s aviation industry was kept in good repair with the purchase of $118 million in aircraft engines and parts, $15 million in aircraft, and $2 million in aircraft parts (excluding engines).

Mutually beneficial reaction...
Chemicals generated $505 million in cross-border exchanges in 2004, contributing $105 million more than in the previous year. West Virginia exported $201 million worth of chemical products to Canada last year, with $132 million in unshaped plastics leading the sector. Canada reciprocated with $304 million in similar goods, including $191 million in organic chemicals and $94 million in synthetic rubber and plastics. The chemicals sector accounted for a quarter of total Canada-West Virginia trade in 2004, 2% more than in the previous year.

Metals provide strong support...
Canada and West Virginia traded $361 million worth of metals last year, each providing the other with valuable supplies. Canada purchased Mountain State metals worth $137 million in 2004. Of these goods, West Virginian aluminum (including alloys) was in highest demand north of the border, with sales to Canada totaling $71 million. Similarly, $127 million worth of aluminum, along with $46 million in nickel and alloys, headed south to West Virginia last year.

Wild and wonderful...
With vastly different wildernesses, Canada and West Virginia proved to be attractive tourist destinations for each other’s residents. Canadians made 192,500 visits to the state in 2004, spending $11 million. In turn, West Virginians made 11,500 visits to their northern neighbor, generating $7 million for the Canadian economy.

West Virginia's Leading Exports to Canada
2004, in millions of U.S. dollars

• Motor vehicle parts, not including engines ($345)
• Coal ($218)
• Unshaped plastics ($132)
• Aluminum, including alloys ($71)
• Motor vehicle engine parts ($56)
• Steel plate, sheet & strip ($47)
• Organic chemicals ($22)
• Lubricating oils & greases ($16)
• Inorganic chemicals ($15)
• Lumber ($14)

West Virginia's Leading Imports from Canada
2004, in millions of U.S. dollars

• Organic chemicals ($191)
• Aluminum, including alloys ($127)
• Aircraft engines & parts ($118)
• Synthetic rubber & plastics ($94)
• Nickel & alloys ($46)
• Newsprint ($35)
• Motor vehicle parts, not including engines ($16)
• Aircraft ($15)
• Steel plate, sheet & strip ($13)
• Paper other than newsprint ($11)

Canada-West Virginia Success Stories

StoriesToyota’s motor manufacturing plant in West Virginia supplies automotive engines for the Lexus R330 manufactured in Toyota’s assembly plant in Cambridge, Ontario—the only Lexus vehicle manufactured outside of Japan. Recent announcements (2005) to expand production of automatic transmissions in West Virginia and to establish a new Toyota manufacturing facility in Woodstock, Ontario (producing the RAV4), point to renewed confidence in the highly successful integrated North American auto sector, and to the Canada-West Virginia production and manufacturing relationship.

Since purchasing Snowshoe Mountain Resort (Pocahontas County, West Virginia), Canada’s Intrawest, a world leader in destination resorts and adventure travel, has invested over US$125 million in resort capital improvements. The Village at Snowshoe offers four-season vacation opportunities including world-class skiing and mountain bike trails, the Gary Player-Signature Championship Raven Golf Course, along with a range of outdoor summer and winter programming. Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2008, Snowshoe’s mountain-top village, with the theme of "Forever Wild", will have 600 homes and 100,000 sq.ft. of restaurants, shops and specialty stores.

Since its launch in 1983, West Virginia Public Broadcasting has featured over 50 Canadian musicians on its live radio program, Mountain Stage, which is aired on over 100 public radio stations, XM Satellite Radio and Voice of America. Special productions of Mountain Stage have been broadcast from the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. Mountain Stage helped shine the spotlight on many Canadian performers emerging on the US scene as well as such legendary artists as Bruce Cockburn, k.d. lang and Gordon Lightfoot.

West Virginia-Canada Facts at a Glance:

• State jobs supported by Canada–U.S. trade: 25,000

July 2005

For more information on Canada's trade with West Virginia, please contact:
Consulate General of Canada
3000 HSBC Center
Buffalo, NY 14203-2884
Phone: (716) 858-9500   •   Fax: (716) 852-4340
www.buffalo.gc.ca

Sources: Merchandise trade and tourism figures are from Statistics Canada, converted at the rate of US$1.00=C$1.3015. Job numbers are based on 2001 data from a 2003 study by Trade Partnership Worldwide commissioned by the Canadian Embassy. Canada's export ranking is from the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research (WISER). All figures are in U.S. dollars. Figures may not add up due to rounding.

• Read the 2004 state trade figures
• Read the 2003 state trade figures
• Read the 2002 state trade figures