After losing some ground in September, Alberta’s international merchandise exports expanded by 6.2 per cent ($459.6 million) in October. Despite the improvement, monthly exports were 19.5 per cent ($1.9 billion) below where they were a year earlier.

The cumulative loss so far in 2020 was $23.9 billion in sales compared to the same 10-month period in 2019.

Monthly export values were up across all major product groups except for metal and non-metallic mineral products.

The growth in October was led by surging agricultural exports, which were up by 30.0 per cent ($189.9 million) compared to September. Agricultural exports were, moreover, one of only three major products groups with year-to-date sales above there they were in 2019.

Energy products represented just under two-thirds of Alberta’s total merchandise exports in October, up by 2.4 per cent ($114.7 million) compared to September. Energy exports, however, were still off by 29.5 per cent ($2.1 billion) compared to October 2019.

The decline in energy sales in the wake of the oil price crash and pandemic represents 92.3 per cent of the year-to-date loss in Alberta.

Nationally, exports increased for a sixth consecutive month, rising by 1.7 per cent ($709.5 million).

ANSWER to Monday's trivia question: Which province had the highest participation rate in November? Alberta. Alberta’s participation rate in November was 69.5 per cent compared to a national average of 65.1 per cent. Saskatchewan had the second highest rate at 67.3 per cent.

Today’s question: Today’s question: What was Alberta's share of Canada’s international energy exports in October?