Even though Canadians had begun to feel the effects of the severe global recession in mid-2008, imports of artificial Christmas trees into Canada still increased by a modest 3% to US$231.9 million for the year.
Canadian imports of real Christmas trees were up by 24.4% to $23.6 million.
Below are the countries that benefited the most from shipping Christmas trees to Canada in 2008.
Top Countries for Imported Artificial Christmas Trees
China shipped over 90% of artificial trees that Canada imported in 2008. Among the top 10 suppliers of artificial trees and ornaments, Indonesia and Switzerland grew their Christmas product shipments by the highest percentages.
- China … US$209.7 million (90.4% of total imported artificial Xmas trees, up 2.1% from 2007)
- United States … $5.9 million (2.6% of total, up 9.6%)
- Taiwan … $3.6 million (1.6% of total, up 3.8%)
- India … $2.5 million (1.1% of total, up 3.9%)
- Switzerland … $1.7 million (0.7% of total, up 174%)
- Thailand … $1.4 million (0.6% of total, down 23.5%)
- Philippines … $1.1 million (0.5% of total, down 10%)
- Austria … $944,365 (0.4% of total, up 79.6%)
- Indonesia … $885,397 (0.4% of total, up 579.9%)
- Hong Kong … $851,638 (0.4% of total, down 9%).
Top Sources of Real Christmas Trees
The U.S. generated about 87% of Canadian imports of live Christmas trees last year. Canada’s other North American trade partner, Mexico, was a distant second. Among the smaller suppliers of real Christmas trees, Ecuador had the highest percentage gain at 117.9%. In second place was another South American nation, Colombia, with a 65.8% gain.
- United States … US$20.4 million (86.7% of total imported real Xmas trees, up 26.3% from 2007)
- Mexico … $657,601 (2.8% of total, down 7%)
- Italy … $583,993 (2.5% of total, down 1.3%)
- Costa Rica … $468,226 (2% of total, up 5%)
- Israel … $383,970 (1.6% of total, up 3.5%)
- Colombia … $221,318 (0.9% of total, up 65.8%)
- Australia … $195,045 (0.8% of total, up10%)
- Ecuador … $133,787 (0.6% of total, up 117.9%)
- France … $97,294 (0.4% of total, up 9.1%)
- New Zealand … $96,921 (0.4% of total, down 12.5%).
Tariff Duties on Christmas Trees
The 6-digit international tariff code for artificial Christmas trees is 950510, while the code for live Christmas tree imports is 060491.
Canada Border Services Agency imposes no tariff on imported Christmas trees, whether they are artificial or live products. This means that not one penny in customs duty was earned while $231.9 million flowed out of Canada to pay for artificial Christmas trees and another $23.6 million was paid to other countries for live Christmas tree products.
Even a modest customs import duty of 1% on artificial tree imports would have generated $2.3 million in revenues for the Canadian government.
Shopping for This Year's Christmas Tree Sales
For the first 8 months of 2009, Canadian imports of artificial Christmas trees were down 28.6% to $76.7 million from $107.5 million during the same period in 2007. During the same period to August 2009, imports of live Christmas trees into Canada shrank by 21.7% to $7.4 million.
Perhaps the global recession is hitting Canadian purchases of Christmas with a lag effect, even though the global economy is improving in 2009. Then again, Vietnam has increased sales of artificial Christmas trees to Canada by 3195% so far this year to $111,862 from only $3,395 in 2007. For live Christmas trees, shipments into Canada from the Netherlands were up 323.5% to $81,253.
Despite the fact that the global economy is still weak, businesses with competitive advantages can grow their Christmas tree sales.
Sources: Industry Canada's Trade Data Online, based on Statistics Canada reports as of November 7, 2009 and Canada Border Services Agency's online customs tariff manual.
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