The opening of the Fairview Container Terminal could see an increase of Canada’s natural resources leaving our country packed into containers for shipment.
It would be a new arrangement for the Port of Prince Rupert, which for years has been a bulk goods shipper in the world of natural resources whether it is coal, grains or lumber products.
With a number of containers arriving in our country on a regular basis, a good number of them remain empty as the conduit of trade in finished goods is weighed heavily in China’s favour at the moment.
By using the empty containers to ship any number of goods back to Asia, a good number of those empty containers could be full in the foreseeable future.
It’s a controversial topic however, as a number of Canadians would rather have our resources developed in Canada, providing a finished product and jobs for Canadians. It could help shore up a value added industry that at the moment seems on its knees.
But in the end, we suspect that the demand for our natural resources will outstrip the ability to develop any massive value added infrastructure, meaning that trade along the Northwest Corridor and through the Port of Prince Rupert will be in a two way direction. With our trade to the Orient and beyond in its rawest form, while the containers returning from Asia will still be full of the consumer goods that line our store shelves on a daily basis.
The Daily News featured the export developments as the front page story of Wednesday’s Daily News.
PORT LIKELY TO HAVE KEY ROLE EXPORTING GOODS TO CHINA
Canadians may be hungry for imported goods from the Far East, but the Chinese are even more eager for the natural resources that Canadian businesses produce, says a new study by Statistics Canada.
According to the study released on Thursday, Canadian export volumes are growing at twice the pace of imports, and most of those exports are natural resources.
Between January and July 2007, Canada's exports to China surged 43 per cent from the same period in 2006, while its imports from China rose by 17 per cent.
This rate of growth in exports in 2007 surpassed that of any other G7 country, and put China neck-and-neck with Japan as Canada's third largest export market.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority, CN Rail and Maher Terminals recently opened the Fairview Container Terminal, with the idea of not only capturing imports from Asia to North America, but also of handling outbound shipments of pulp, paper and other commodities, that will be stuffed into containers for the return journey.
While CN has been confident it will see full inbound containers, it has been looking to the natural resource sector as a way to fill the returning containers.
Meanwhile, Canadian import volumes continue to grow, although not as quickly as in previous years. Canada's exports to China rose sharply between 2002 and 2006, from $4 billion to nearly $8 billion. In 2005 and 2006, gains were subdued after a surge in 2004.
"Canada is clearly benefitting from the magnitude of China's demand for natural resources. The nation of more than 1.3 billion people is expanding its manufacturing base and building massive infrastructure projects, from ports and bridges to facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games," reads the study.
"This demand has propelled world commodity prices to unprecedented levels. In 2007, metal prices were more than three times higher than in 2002, and crude oil prices quadrupled to more than $90 US per barrel. By pushing prices higher, China has boosted Canada's natural resource exports to other countries."
Increasing exports to Europe and Asia, combined with relatively little growth in exports to the United States, resulted in a sharp increase in the share of Canada's exports held by countries other than the United States.
Nearly one-quarter (24 per cent) of Canada's exports headed to non-US destinations in 2007, compared with 16 per cent just five years earlier.
Not only does the rise in trade potential prod more trade through Fairview, but also Prince Rupert Grain and Ridley Terminals.
Forestry and agricultural exports, notably wood pulp and grains, comprise 16 per cent and 14 per cent of Canada's exports respectively, with machinery (12 per cent), energy (3 per cent) and consumer goods (1 per cent) rounding out the total.
Canada's metal exports to China between 2002 and 2006 registered faster growth than those to any other major market.
During that period, exports surged from $300 million to $2 billion. So far in 2007, metal exports to China have been running 70 per cent higher than in 2006, a much faster pace than in previous years
It would be a new arrangement for the Port of Prince Rupert, which for years has been a bulk goods shipper in the world of natural resources whether it is coal, grains or lumber products.
With a number of containers arriving in our country on a regular basis, a good number of them remain empty as the conduit of trade in finished goods is weighed heavily in China’s favour at the moment.
By using the empty containers to ship any number of goods back to Asia, a good number of those empty containers could be full in the foreseeable future.
It’s a controversial topic however, as a number of Canadians would rather have our resources developed in Canada, providing a finished product and jobs for Canadians. It could help shore up a value added industry that at the moment seems on its knees.
But in the end, we suspect that the demand for our natural resources will outstrip the ability to develop any massive value added infrastructure, meaning that trade along the Northwest Corridor and through the Port of Prince Rupert will be in a two way direction. With our trade to the Orient and beyond in its rawest form, while the containers returning from Asia will still be full of the consumer goods that line our store shelves on a daily basis.
The Daily News featured the export developments as the front page story of Wednesday’s Daily News.
PORT LIKELY TO HAVE KEY ROLE EXPORTING GOODS TO CHINA
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pages one and three
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pages one and three
Canadians may be hungry for imported goods from the Far East, but the Chinese are even more eager for the natural resources that Canadian businesses produce, says a new study by Statistics Canada.
According to the study released on Thursday, Canadian export volumes are growing at twice the pace of imports, and most of those exports are natural resources.
Between January and July 2007, Canada's exports to China surged 43 per cent from the same period in 2006, while its imports from China rose by 17 per cent.
This rate of growth in exports in 2007 surpassed that of any other G7 country, and put China neck-and-neck with Japan as Canada's third largest export market.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority, CN Rail and Maher Terminals recently opened the Fairview Container Terminal, with the idea of not only capturing imports from Asia to North America, but also of handling outbound shipments of pulp, paper and other commodities, that will be stuffed into containers for the return journey.
While CN has been confident it will see full inbound containers, it has been looking to the natural resource sector as a way to fill the returning containers.
Meanwhile, Canadian import volumes continue to grow, although not as quickly as in previous years. Canada's exports to China rose sharply between 2002 and 2006, from $4 billion to nearly $8 billion. In 2005 and 2006, gains were subdued after a surge in 2004.
"Canada is clearly benefitting from the magnitude of China's demand for natural resources. The nation of more than 1.3 billion people is expanding its manufacturing base and building massive infrastructure projects, from ports and bridges to facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games," reads the study.
"This demand has propelled world commodity prices to unprecedented levels. In 2007, metal prices were more than three times higher than in 2002, and crude oil prices quadrupled to more than $90 US per barrel. By pushing prices higher, China has boosted Canada's natural resource exports to other countries."
Increasing exports to Europe and Asia, combined with relatively little growth in exports to the United States, resulted in a sharp increase in the share of Canada's exports held by countries other than the United States.
Nearly one-quarter (24 per cent) of Canada's exports headed to non-US destinations in 2007, compared with 16 per cent just five years earlier.
Not only does the rise in trade potential prod more trade through Fairview, but also Prince Rupert Grain and Ridley Terminals.
Forestry and agricultural exports, notably wood pulp and grains, comprise 16 per cent and 14 per cent of Canada's exports respectively, with machinery (12 per cent), energy (3 per cent) and consumer goods (1 per cent) rounding out the total.
Canada's metal exports to China between 2002 and 2006 registered faster growth than those to any other major market.
During that period, exports surged from $300 million to $2 billion. So far in 2007, metal exports to China have been running 70 per cent higher than in 2006, a much faster pace than in previous years
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