In 2023, the value of interprovincial trade (including trade with and between territories) of manufactured goods fell 0.7% to $169.2 billion compared with 2022, while that of wholesale goods fell 2.4% to $545.1 billion.
Majority of provinces post lower interprovincial manufacturing sales in 2023
Compared with 2022, six provinces and one territory posted decreases in interprovincial sales of manufactured goods in 2023. The largest declines in interprovincial manufacturing sales came from factories in New Brunswick (-$2.5 billion), Saskatchewan (-$1.4 billion) and Prince Edward Island (-$337.9 million).
The border between Ontario and Quebec was the interprovincial border manufactured goods crossed most frequently in 2023. Two-way trade of manufactured goods between these provinces totalled $58.3 billion. This was followed by trade between Ontario and British Columbia, with $16.9 billion of manufactured goods changing hands.
In 2023, the largest changes in interprovincial trade of manufactured goods were observed between Ontario and Quebec. Ontario shipments to Quebec fell $2.4 billion (-9.6%) on lower sales of petroleum and coal products and primary metals. Meanwhile, sales from Quebec factories to Ontario rose $2.3 billion (+7.0%), stemming from higher sales of non-durable goods.
Lower sales from Alberta generate decline of interprovincial trade of wholesale goods
The decline in interprovincial trade of wholesale goods in 2023 was entirely due to a 12.5% drop in interprovincial sales by Albertan wholesalers. Wholesale sales of petroleum and petroleum products from Alberta to other provinces and territories dropped 18.7%, accounting for all of the decline in interprovincial trade of wholesale goods (-2.4%). Excluding sales originating in Alberta, interprovincial trade of wholesale goods increased by $5.4 billion (+1.3%).
There were other notable changes in 2023, including a $1.7 billion (+29.8%) increase in wholesale sales from Saskatchewan to Alberta and a $1.5 billion (+22.4%) rise in Ontario shipments to Prince Edward Island.
The decline in the sales of wholesale products from Alberta to other provinces was the largest change in the interprovincial trade of wholesale goods from 2022 to 2023. Sales to Ontario (-$9.7 billion), Saskatchewan (-$3.2 billion), Quebec (-$2.8 billion) and New Brunswick (-$1.2 billion) all fell in 2023 due to lower sales of petroleum products. These declines were partially offset by higher wholesale sales from Saskatchewan to Alberta (+$1.7 billion) and to Ontario (+$1.1 billion), as well as sales from Ontario to Prince Edward Island (+$1.5 billion) and to Quebec (+$1.1 billion).
In 2023, the value of two-way interprovincial trade of wholesale goods was highest between Ontario and Quebec; $117.1 billion of wholesale goods crossed the provincial border between these two provinces that year.
Data are available by industry from 2020 to 2023 and can now be accessed via the Canadian Internal Trade Data and Information Hub.
Table 1: Interprovincial sales of manufactured goods, 2022 to 2023
Table 2: Origin and destination of manufacturing sales, 2023
Table 3: Interprovincial sales of wholesale goods, 2022 to 2023
Note to readers
Data in tables 36-10-0698 and 20-10-0087 are based on the Annual Survey of Manufacturing and Logging Industries and the Annual Wholesale Trade Survey.
Wholesale trade data are based on preliminary data for 2023, and revised data for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Manufacturing data are based on preliminary data for 2022 and 2023, and revised data for 2021 and 2020. Data for 2022 based on the revised 2022 data will be published in the fall of 2025.