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Canada’s manufacturing sector employed 1.6 million people in July 2023 and 300,000 (19%) worked in flour mills, dairies, wineries, and other food manufacturing plants. Export markets account for 35 % to 40% of our markets for food and beverages (37% in 2022) so roughly 100,000 jobs depend on international trade. Canada also imports nearly a third (32 % in 2022) of what is sold in stores and consumed in restaurants. What we export and import, the quantities and prices depend on the Comparative Advantage of Canada and our trading partners.LINK https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comparativeadvantage.aspIn all but a few food and beverage categories Canada is both an importer and exporter. Most of the wine consumed in Canada is imported but we are exporting a small but increasing share of our wine production. Most of the beef we consume is processed in Canada but depending on season and region we continue to import some. Global supply and demand set the minimum price we must pay for commodities such as cocoa beans and rice and the prices our food manufacturers can obtain from exporting. That means, domestic prices tend to rise with international prices to ensure sufficient supply to meet domestic needs and domestic prices tend to fall with international prices to ensure domestic suppliers don’t lose the domestic market to imports. International trade keeps us honest. Commodity prices are updated monthly and available at the World Bank.Link https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/commodity-marketsCanada’s trade balance in food and beverages turned positive in 2016 and reached $10 billion in 2022, meaning that we exported $10 billion more than we imported. From the pre-Covid year of 2019 to 2022 the value of Canada’s food and beverage shipments increased by 29 % while the value of our domestic market has increased by 25 % (Note, most of the recent growth reflects price changes). The difference is explained by the value of our exports rising by 41 per cent while the value of our imports rose by just 27 per cent. Trade Data Online is an excellent interactive site for tracking exports and imports by product and market.LINK  https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/trade-data-online/enAmong Canada’s many Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is the most important. Today The U.S. and Mexico account for 80 per cent of our exports (U.S. 77 %, Mexico 3 %). Our second, third and fifth largest export markets are China (6 %,), Japan (4%) and South Korea (2 %) all the others account for 8 per cent. Since 2019, the American share of our exports has increased to 80% from 75 %.Exports growth has slowed recently from the double-digit pace 2019 to 2022 to 9 per cent for the first eight months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, led by Bakeries (up 20 %); and Grain and Oilseed Milling (up 19 %) Tomorrow, I’ll review imports and their role in raising standards for our domestic manufacturers and holding prices in check.