Statistics Canada released July 2026 international merchandise trade on September 3, the scheduled monthly print after June's release on August 4.
Total exports fell 2.3 percent to $76.1 billion while imports rose 2.2 percent to $75.4 billion, narrowing Canada's merchandise surplus to $769 million from $4.2 billion in June.
This was still a fifth consecutive monthly trade surplus, but the margin compressed sharply as the US-bound lane weakened.
Exports to the United States dropped 6.6 percent in July, the largest percentage decline since April 2025, on lower crude oil and gold shipments in the Daily account.
Exports to countries other than the United States reached a record $25.6 billion, up 7.4 percent, with higher shipments to the Netherlands, China, and Germany among the contributors.
Metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 8.5 percent in July after a 15.8 percent June gain, driven by lower unwrought gold exports rather than the sulphur lift StatCan cited in June.
The July Daily release does not break out HS 2503 elemental sulfur in its product-section prose. June remains the latest month with an explicit sulphur mention in the metals and non-metallic minerals narrative.
SMM's open June trade account still provides the most recent customs-style elemental sulfur volume for Canada at 527,305 metric tonnes, with Indonesia and the United States the leading destinations.
Cross-border sulfur flows are not solely a US lane. SMM listed 158,031 tonnes to the United States and 32,730 tonnes to China in June, with Indonesia at 198,612 tonnes.
A weaker July export headline to the United States is therefore a broad merchandise read, not a confirmed sulfur volume print, until HS-level tables or trade press publish July elemental tonnes.
Alberta and British Columbia recovery still clears through Pacific terminals and cross-border molten and solid channels. VFPA's 2025 annual print put Port of Vancouver sulphur at 3.5 million tonnes, up 5 percent year on year.
Desk read: July StatCan is today's hard government print for total Canadian trade, but sulfur desks still wait for an HS 2503 line or SMM-style July breakdown. The US lane softness is context, not yet a sulfur volume signal.