In 2016, 148,886 Canadian enterprises imported $497.2 billion worth of goods. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) accounted for 98.6% of all importing enterprises, but for less than half (46.7%) of total import values.

By comparison, the number of Canadian enterprises exporting goods was 43,255 in 2016. Similar to importers, SMEs accounted for 97.4% of all exporters in the country, while they were responsible for 40.8% of all export sales.

A small number of enterprises in the country were therefore responsible for a large proportion of the international merchandise trade activity. For example, the top 100 importing enterprises in Canada accounted for nearly half of total import values in 2016. Similarly, the top 100 exporting enterprises accounted for 56.6% of all export sales.

Consequently, the average value of imports and exports performed by SMEs and large enterprises differs greatly. In 2016, a single SME imported $1.6 million worth of goods on average, compared with an average import value of $130.8 million for a single large enterprise. The difference was even more pronounced on the export side, with an average export value of $4.3 million for a single SME exporter and $231.9 million for a single large enterprise.

In addition, the trading patterns of SME importers and exporters were quite different in terms of the number of trading partners they dealt with. Nearly 60% of all SME importers sourced goods from more than one country in 2016. In contrast, fewer than 30% of SME exporters shipped goods to more than one country.

This is excerpted from a 13 March 2018 release by Statistics Canada.