December 2000, vol. 2, no. 2 - Feature Story / Industry Canada

Profile of Canadian Exporters: 1993 to 1997

Table 1 provides data from the recently released Canadian Exporter Registry,1 a database on Canadian exporter trends that is compiled by Statistics Canada every two years. The data include the number of establishments with exports exceeding $30 000; domestic exports classified by industry grouping, size, and province or territory; and destination groupings, arranged by country or U.S. region. The database's purpose is to determine trends among Canadian exporters.

While there was a 21 percent increase in the number of small Canadian exporting firms (less than $1 million in exports) from 1993 to 1997, their share as a percentage of the total number of exporting firms declined from 72.2 percent in 1993 to 68.0 percent in 1997. In addition, while the total value of their exports increased during this period by 34.2 percent (from $3.8 billion to $5.1 billion), their share of total exports dropped from 2.1 percent of the total value of exports to 1.8 percent.

The data also show that a select group of large establishments accounts for most Canadian domestic exports. In 1997, 4.3 percent of Canadian exporting firms accounted for 81.5 percent of the total export value, with each firm exporting at least $25 million worth of products. The motor vehicle industry, including parts, represented a major part of this concentration. In that same year, 86.3 percent of all Canadian exporting firms exported less than $5 million.

In addition, the data show an exporting company's first year is critical. Approximately 50 percent of the exporters that were new in 1994 and 1995 were exporting in every year up to 1997. However, 30 percent of the exporters that were new in 1994 and 1995 became inactive within the first year, and continued to remain so at least until 1997. There is a strong assumption that a large percentage of these inactive companies are in the small and medium-sized firm categories.

Furthermore, the number of these firms exporting only to the U.S. market increased by 17 percent between 1993 and 1997, while the number of exporters to both U.S. and non-U.S. markets expanded by 52 percent over the same period.