The declining impact is most clearly seen in China, which has started to move up the value chain and produce intermediate goods domestically rather than import them.15 In terms of factors more specific to Canada that have held back our exports in the wake of the Great Recession, the most important are related to our ability to produce and export non-commodity goods, which represent about 60 per cent of our exports since the financial crisis.
The remainder is split between energy and non-energy commodities. Our goods exports were severely affected by the sharp decline in global demand during the Great Recession.