Canada Seen Slipping in Global Supply Chains

Canada Seen Slipping in Global Supply Chains
(CSCB)

This article is excerpted from the 6 May 2008 edition of “globeandmail.com”. The Conference Board report to which this article refers is available on their web site, at http://sso.conferenceboard.ca/e-Library/LayoutAbstract.asp?DID=2550.

Canadian businesses are falling behind on participation in the global supply chains that are becoming key drivers of international trade and national economies, a new report from the Conference Board of Canada says.

The Conference Board study found Canadian businesses did a generally good job of integrating into the continental economy in the 1990s under the North American free-trade agreement, but supply chain participation has stagnated since. The performance is even worse with the rest of the world, the 20-page report "Stuck in Neutral" says, finding that Canada has mostly failed to take advantage of the quickly expanding economies in Asia and South America.

Although volumes of commodity exports to Asia have accelerated in recent years, Canada's share in the faster-growing "parts and final goods" segments of the production chain to the region have fallen back since 2000….

The Conference Board concludes that Canada is falling behind in integrating into global chains, particularly the fastest-growing chains in Asia, and that the failure will have implications on the country's future prosperity….