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The December 2000 issue of Small Business Quarterly featured
the first issue of Statistics Canada’s Exporter Registry,*
a new database on Canadian exporters and on the value of exports
by industry, size of exporter, province of residence and destination.
Statistics Canada has just released the second issue of A Profile
of Canadian Exporters 1993–99. As before, a business
establishment that has exports exceeding $30 000 annually
is used as the statistical unit of measure.
As shown in Table 1, in 1998 and 1999
the distribution of business among exporters was similar to the
pattern in previous years. Of nearly 30 000 exporters,
a small number (about 1500 or 5 percent) of the largest exporters
(with over $25 million worth of goods and services) accounted
for over 80 percent of the value of all exports. Small exporters
(under $1 million) comprised almost two thirds of the total
number of establishments but contributed less than 2 percent
of the total value of exports.
General trends continued the direction shown in previous years.
While the total number of exporters has been fairly stable since
1995, growing only 1.3 percent per year, the value of exports
has grown 7.4 percent per year on average. The percentage
of the smallest exporters (under $100 000) has continued
to decline, to 21 percent in 1999, while the proportion of
those in the $100 000 to $1 million range has remained
stable at around 42 percent of total numbers. The next size
of exporters ($1 to $5 million) has continued to gain ground,
standing at 21 percent of all exporters in 1999, up from
18 percent in 1995; however, its share of export value has
remained under 5 percent. Similarly, while the second-largest
size ($5 to $25 million) showed significant increases in
numbers and reached 11 percent of all exporters in 1999,
its share of value overall remained under 12 percent.
As expected, the number of new exporters in any year is small;
however, the size of new exporters has been gradually increasing.
In 1999, new exporters with exports under $100 000 accounted
for 47 percent of all new exporters, down from 54 to 58 percent
recorded from 1994 to 1997. In contrast, new exporters in the
next size range (from $100 000 to $1 million) accounted
for 43 percent of all new exporters, up from an annual average
of 38 percent from 1994 to 1997. The increase in size is
explained by an increase in the volume of exports, an increase
in prices or a combination of both factors.
The full report (Catalogue No. 65-506-XIE, July 2001)
may be purchased for $25 on the Statistics Canada Web site (www.statcan.ca).
* Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 65-506-XIE,
September 2001. The registry includes domestic exports (goods
grown, extracted or manufactured in Canada) and goods of foreign
origin that have been materially transformed in Canada. It excludes
establishments with annual domestic exports under $30 000,
groceries, duty-free shop exports and goods of U.S. origin returning
to the United States.
| Table 1: Number of Exporters
and Value of Exports (millions of current Canadian dollars),
1993–99 |
|
| Exporter Size |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
Number |
Value |
$30 000–
$99 999 |
6 674 |
391 |
7 080 |
413 |
7 569 |
445 |
7 556 |
446 |
7 655 |
452 |
6 380 |
384 |
6 128 |
367 |
| % share |
28.9 |
0.2 |
27.8 |
0.2 |
27.2 |
0.2 |
26.2 |
0.2 |
25.5 |
0.2 |
21.4 |
0.1 |
21.0 |
0.1 |
$100 000–
$999 999 |
9 777 |
3 401 |
10 898 |
3 885 |
11 778 |
4 191 |
12 103 |
4 412 |
12 492 |
4 589 |
12 812 |
4 702 |
12 138 |
4 603 |
| % share |
42.3 |
1.9 |
42.8 |
1.8 |
42.4 |
1.7 |
41.9 |
1.7 |
41.6 |
1.6 |
43.1 |
1.6 |
41.5 |
1.4 |
$1 000 000–
$4 999 999 |
3 927 |
9 098 |
4 298 |
10 025 |
4 909 |
11 622 |
5 258 |
12 322 |
5 649 |
13 362 |
6 012 |
14 329 |
6 199 |
14 880 |
| % share |
17.0 |
5.2 |
16.9 |
4.7 |
17.7 |
4.8 |
18.2 |
4.8 |
18.8 |
4.8 |
20.2 |
4.9 |
21.2 |
4.6 |
$5 000 000–
$24 999 999 |
1 853 |
20 803 |
2 167 |
24 565 |
2 389 |
27 490 |
2 666 |
30 195 |
2 909 |
33 180 |
3 057 |
34 563 |
3 238 |
37 004 |
| % share |
8.0 |
11.8 |
8.5 |
11.6 |
8.6 |
11.3 |
9.2 |
11.7 |
9.7 |
11.9 |
10.3 |
11.8 |
11.1 |
11.4 |
$25 000 000
and over |
899 |
142 659 |
1 032 |
172 180 |
1 156 |
200 485 |
1 277 |
209 703 |
1 340 |
227 294 |
1 492 |
239 817 |
1 540 |
268 349 |
| % share |
3.9 |
80.9 |
4.1 |
81.6 |
4.2 |
82.1 |
4.4 |
81.6 |
4.5 |
81.5 |
5.0 |
81.6 |
5.3 |
82.5 |
|
| Total |
23 130 |
$176 352 |
25 475 |
$211 068 |
27 801 |
$244 233 |
28 860 |
$257 078 |
30 045 |
$278 876 |
29 753 |
$293 794 |
29 243 |
$325 203 |
|
| Source: Statistics Canada,
Exporter Registry, July 2001. |
|
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