Explanatory Notes — Export Intensity

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Note: Export Intensity is only available in the Trade by Industry (NAICS codes) module.

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Export Intensity is defined as the ratio of Domestic Exports to Manufacturing Shipments X 100.

The more an industry is export oriented, the higher is this ratio.

Export Intensity = Domestic Exports / Manufacturing Shipments

In Trade Data Online, export intensity is expressed as a percentage, i.e. as the % of Manufacturing Shipments exported abroad.

Usage Of This Data - Cautionary Note

As explained in the section called Integrating Trade Data with Manufacturing Data, there are important limitations that apply when shipment data is combined with trade data. In some cases, it may even appear that industry exports more than it produces in terms of $ value.

Some of the factors which affect the validity of this calculation include:

• the inclusion of "freight costs" in the value of exports
• Wholesalers' markup (i.e. establishments that export what they purchase from a manufacturer may markup the sale price of the exports) which inflates the value of exports over the value reported in shipments
• time period adjustments or "calendarisation" (for example the exported good may have been manufactured in a different calendar period and may have been sitting in a warehouse in the interim)
• undercoverage of either shipments or exports
• exports of goods produced by wholesaling establishments engaged in manufacturing (i.e. these establishments may not be surveyed if the dominant share of revenues are derived from wholesaling as opposed to manufacturing activities)
• possible classification differences or errors when data is compiled
• double processing of primary goods (e.g. by metal fabricators) which may affect the value of shipments

As a result, caution is recommended in the use of this information, given all the adjustments required to reconcile the two data sets.

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Excerpt from Statistics Canada's Data Integration - International Trade and Manufacturing Shipments Commodity, Publication 65F0020XIE, June 2000

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"Although it is useful to integrate shipments and trade data, for reasons such as estimating the domestic market for a commodity, because the data are derived from different sources, they are not fully compatible. In some cases, the illogical situation of exports exceeding shipments is found. ....

In general, the adjustments and cautions described above can be made to account for the conceptual differences found in the collection of shipments and trade data, thereby increasing the reliability of integrating the two sets of data.

Therefore it is recommended that shipments and trade data can be integrated but the adjustments and cautions described above should be taken to ensure correct usage of the data.