Trade deficit widens to $940 million

Canada's trade gap expanded from $908 million to $940 million as the country imported more from the rest of the world while exporting the same amount of goods and services.

The expanded trade deficit comes on top of a revision for the previous month. The data agency originally announced a $75 million surplus for October before revising that to a $908 million deficit due to lower than expected oil prices.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that importsedged up to $40.7billion while exports remained unchanged at$39.8billion.

The deficit was more than nine times as large as what economists were expecting. A consensus of economists polled by Bloomberg had been anticipating the figure to come in at a deficit of roughly $100 million for the month.

Trade served as a drag on the economy in November- Scotiabank

"The Bank of Canadas hoped for rotation of growth toward an export-led recovery remains elusive with another downside disappointment," Scotiabank economists Derek Holt and Dov Ziegler said in a note to clients after the release of the data. "The net implication is that trade served as a drag on the economy in November."

Canada imported significantly fewer energy products during the month, as they were down16.3 per centto $2.9billion for the month. Imports of crude oil and crude bitumen in particular decreased for a third consecutive month, down24.9 per centto $1.5billion in November on lower volumes and prices.

On the other side of the ledger, Canada also shipped out less energy products down1.6 per centto $9.3billion. Crude oil and crude bitumen specifically fell by two per centto $6.7billion, a third consecutive decrease after reaching a record high in August2013.

Canada has now posted a trade deficit for 23 consecutive months. That's the longest uninterrupted streak of deficits in almost a generation.

Historically, Canada posted trade surpluses more often than it did deficits on a month to month basis. But since the recession that began in 2009, the economy has been posting far more negative figures than surplus months.