Only nine months into the year, it has already been a record year for British Columbia for merchandise and commodities shipped to China.
The $2.6-billion in exports to China has been fueled by increases in the solid wood, pulp and paper, coal, agricultural products, fish products and machinery and equipment.
Many of these products - particularly pulp, lumber and coal - are major drivers of the economy in northern B.C.
"Our government has long said B.C.'s economic prosperity is directly tied to markets in Asia, especially China," said Minister of Tourism, Trade and Investment Margaret McDiarmid.
According to Statistics Canada's latest monthly release on international merchandise trade, $2.597 billion of B.C. exports were shipped to China between January and September 2010.
That surpasses the $2.478-billion record total set during the entire 2009 year. Year-over-year, the value of B.C. exports are up by 39.5 per cent.
The total includes increases in these sectors:
- A 94 per cent increase in solid wood products (largely lumber) to $487 million;
- A 49 per cent increase in pulp and paper products (largely pulp) to $893 million;
- A 21 per cent increase in energy products (largely coal) to $530 million;
- A 399 per cent increase in agricultural products to $111 million;
- An eight per cent increase in fish products;
- And a 35 per cent increase in machinery and equipment.
While pulp has been a significant export to China for the past decade, and machinery and equipment to a lesser extent, the other categories have seen significant increases in the past decade, show B.C. Statistics data.
