Goal 6

Firms Participating In Export Trade - Deep Dive


Goal Status

checkmark icon to signify progressing Progressing Not On Track
Baseline: 930
Current: 957
Target: 1395
Bands

The industries with the largest numbers of international merchandise exporting establishments in Nova Scotia are goods producing — mainly manufacturing and agriculture and fishing — as well as service industries that participate in both wholesale and retail trade.

Industry Number of Exporting Establishments
Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing-Hunting 103
Mining-Quarrying-Oil and gas extraction 9
Utilities 7
Construction 30
Manufacturing 288
Wholesale trade 233
Retail trade 75
Transportation and warehousing 57
Information and cultural industries 8
Finance and insurance 7
Real estate and rental and leasing 19
Professional-Scientific-Technical services 59
Management of companies and enterprises 0
Administrative and support-Waste management-Remediation services 10
Educational services 5
Health care and social assistance 6
Arts-Entertainment-Recreation 11
Accommodation and food services 0
Other services (except public administration) 22
Public administration 0

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Exporting establishments in Nova Scotia were evenly split between Halifax and outside of Halifax. In 2022, there were 480 exporting establishments in Halifax and 477 outside of Halifax. Outside of Halifax, there were more establishments in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, while Halifax had more establishments in service-based industries.

Industry Halifax Outside of Halifax
All industries 480 477
Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing-Hunting 14 89
Mining-Quarrying-Oil and gas extraction 0 0
Utilities 5 2
Construction 21 9
Manufacturing 112 176
Wholesale trade 131 102
Retail trade 44 31
Transportation and warehousing 40 17
Information and cultural industries 7 1
Finance and insurance 0 0
Real estate and rental and leasing 9 10
Professional-Scientific-Technical services 50 9
Management of companies and enterprises 0 0
Administrative and support-Waste management-Remediation services 6 4
Educational services 0 0
Health care and social assistance 5 1
Arts-Entertainment-Recreation 8 3
Accommodation and food services 0 0
Other services (except public administration) 14 8
Public administration 0 0

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The manufacturing industry accounted for 70.6 per cent of Nova Scotia’s merchandise exports in 2022. It also produced $15.5 million dollars in exports per establishment. Wholesale trade accounted for another 19.3 per cent of the province’s merchandise exports, while agriculture and fishing accounted for 4.3 per cent and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction accounted for 1.8 per cent. Combined, these four industries generated 96.1 per cent of Nova Scotia’s merchandise exports and represent 66.1 per cent of the province’s exporting establishments.

Industry Value
Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing-Hunting 2.7
Mining-Quarrying-Oil and gas extraction 12.8
Utilities 4.3
Construction 0.2
Manufacturing 15.5
Wholesale trade 5.2
Retail trade 0.3
Transportation and warehousing 1.3
Information and cultural industries 0.1
Finance and insurance 2.4
Real estate and rental and leasing 0.1
Professional-Scientific-Technical services 1.3
Management of companies and enterprises 0
Administrative and support-Waste management-Remediation services 0.5
Educational services 0
Health care and social assistance 0.9
Arts-Entertainment-Recreation 0
Accommodation and food services 0
Other services (except public administration) 0.3
Public administration 0

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The value of exports per establishment was $2.8 million in Halifax and $10.5 million outside of Halifax in 2022. The higher value outside of Halifax largely reflects the higher value of manufacturing output outside of Halifax.

Industry Halifax Outside of Halifax
All industries 2.76 10.46
Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing-Hunting 1.3 2.87
Mining-Quarrying-Oil and gas extraction 0 0
Utilities 6.05 0.01
Construction 0.19 0.14
Manufacturing 4.34 22.57
Wholesale trade 4.3 6.45
Retail trade 0.16 0.45
Transportation and warehousing 1.28 1.35
Information and cultural industries 0.07 0.03
Finance and insurance 0 0
Real estate and rental and leasing 0.16 0.02
Professional-Scientific-Technical services 1.52 0.02
Management of companies and enterprises 0 0
Administrative and support-Waste management-Remediation services 0.2 0.99
Educational services 0 0
Health care and social assistance 1.11 0
Arts-Entertainment-Recreation 0.02 0
Accommodation and food services 0 0
Other services (except public administration) 0.42 0.06
Public administration 0 0

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Looking at detailed results for the manufacturing sector, food manufacturing had the largest number of merchandise exporting establishments.

Sub-sector Number
Food manufacturing 74
Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing 9
Textile product mills 6
Wood product manufacturing 17
Paper manufacturing 7
Printing and related support activities 7
Chemical manufacturing 18
Plastics and rubber products manufacturing 22
Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing 5
Fabricated metal product manufacturing 22
Machinery manufacturing 23
Computer and electronic product manufacturing 23
Electrical equipment and appliance and component manufacturing 8
Transportation equipment manufacturing 15
Miscellaneous manufacturing 20

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Two of the province’s significant export industries stand out in the value of export per exporting establishment by manufacturing sub-sector – pulp and paper manufacturing and tire manufacturing. Both show significantly above average export value per establishment.

Sub-sector Millions of Dollars
Food manufacturing 22.77
Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing 0.09
Textile product mills 1.56
Wood product manufacturing 10.66
Paper manufacturing 40.82
Printing and related support activities 0.1
Chemical manufacturing 7.53
Plastics and rubber products manufacturing 75.09
Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing 6.01
Fabricated metal product manufacturing 1.58
Machinery manufacturing 7.32
Computer and electronic product manufacturing 6.24
Electrical equipment and appliance and component manufacturing 6.86
Transportation equipment manufacturing 2.25
Miscellaneous manufacturing 0.36

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Of the province’s 957 establishments participating in international merchandise exports in 2022, 74.3 per cent exported to a single country. However, the 246 establishments that exported to two or more countries accounted for a larger share (53 per cent) of the total value of merchandise exports and had a higher export value per establishment.

Group Share of Exporting Establishments
1 partner country 74.3
2 or more partner countries 25.7

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Looking at the province’s largest merchandise export destinations, 794 establishments exported to the United States in 2022, accounting for 67.7 per cent of the value of merchandise exports. Exports to the United States had the second largest value per establishment with exports to China holding the highest value per establishment in 2022. There has been significant growth in the number of firms exporting to, and the value of exports destined for, Asian markets. From 2010 to 2022, the value of merchandise exports from Nova Scotia to Asian markets has more than doubled, displacing Europe as the province’s second largest export market. In particular, the number of firms exporting to China, South Korea, and Japan have steadily grown.

Nova Scotia's 10 Largest Export Destinations, 2022

 

Value of Exports (x1,000)

Number of Establishments *

Value per Establishment (x1,000)

United States

$4,273,657,000

794

$5,382,440

China

$638,100,000

106

$6,019,811

France

$116,642,000

69

$1,690,464

United Kingdom

$115,025,000

92

$1,250,272

Japan

$110,456,000

61

$1,810,754

Netherlands

$107,243,000

52

$2,062,365

South Korea

$98,061,000

63

$1,556,524

India

$90,395,000

28

$3,228,393

Germany

$69,287,000

62

$1,117,532

Belgium

$50,372,000

49

$1,028,000

 

​​​*Note that the sum of the exporting establishments column exceeds the provincial total of 957. This is because some establishments export to two or more countries.

Number of Partner Countries Value Per Establishment
1 partner country 4.16
2 or more partner countries 13.65

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CHANGES TO THE INDICATOR, BASELINE, OR TARGET:

  • We were not able to replicate the baseline number quoted in the Report of the Nova Scotia Commission on Building our New Economy.
  • A new data source has since become available from Statistics Canada, which was adopted here.
  • This new data source measures the number of business establishments participating in international merchandise exports. Note that an establishment is not the same as a business. A business can own multiple establishments.
  • The change in indicator results in a new, higher baseline, but the target is still assumed to require 50% growth over the baseline.