Canadian businesses face challenges and opportunities in global trade
Companies face challenges in attempting to become an exporter or expand their export markets.
Statistics Canada released its 2017 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy which looks at Canadian businesses’ affiliations with foreign businesses, imports and exports of goods or services as well as at challenges and opportunities they face to connect to global markets.
In 2017, one-quarter of all enterprises exported products, up from 20.8% in 2012. The propensity for exporting was twice as high (43.9%) for large enterprises (those with 250 or more employees) when compared with small businesses (22.6%) (which have between 20 and 99 employees). In addition, one-third (33.7%) of medium-sized enterprises were exporters.
According to the survey, Canadian enterprises encounter many challenges in either attempting to become an exporter or to expand their export markets or the variety of goods or services sold abroad. Of these challenges, shipping costs were the most frequently reported difficult obstacle (22.6%), followed by uncertainty of foreign or international standards (19.4%) and identifying foreign customers (18.4%).
There was some regional variation with respect to obstacles encountered when exporting or trying to become an exporter. One-third of Quebec enterprises reported having trouble identifying foreign customers as their biggest challenge, while uncertainty about foreign standards (17.0%) was ranked highest in Ontario. Shipping costs were the most common obstacle in both Atlantic Canada (17.0%) and the rest of Canada (31.1%).
