Saskatchewan continues to see an increase in value of world exports as 2018 reported an increase of 11.2 per cent over last year, totalling $31.2 billion. The Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) announced yesterday that this represents the highest total export value following the $35 billion peak in 2014.

Although concerns were raised in 2018 during the negotiations of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, exports to the U.S. still increased by 14.7 per cent to $17.3 billion, making our neighbours to the south the largest single market for Saskatchewan exports.

STEP proclaimed that Saskatchewan still remains the province with the most diversified market portfolio, as 44 per cent of total exports are shipped to non-U.S. countries. This means that although the U.S. takes a large portion of the provinces exports, Saskatchewan continues to have a variety of markets to draw in profits from outside of the U.S. including China, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.

Due to, what STEP is calling, punitive, or intended for punishment, tariffs on peas and lentils, exports to India decreased by 46.1 per cent to $618 million.

Saskatchewan’s agriculture continues to be a main export for the province with the government stating in 2017, they have increased more than 60 per cent since 2010 and claims over 40 per cent of Canada’s cultivated farmland.