International imports

[MaximeAgez]

International imports are estimated using the exiobase database. Imports data provided by Statistics Canada however, only provide the intensity and nature of the flow and not its origin nor its user. So we know that Québec imported X$ of cars from elsewhere than Canada but we do not know:

• which sector in the Québec economy requires international imports of cars
• from which countries these cars come from (we only know it's not coming from Canada)

For the first point we apply an economic allocation to determine to which sectors the imports are attributed, i.e., if sector A represents 5% of the use of cars in the Québec economy, then sector A will be attributed 5% of the international imports of cars. This is probably the best possible fix.

For the second point, we consider the global market distribution to determine the origin of products. If China represents 50% of the global market in cars (in volume sold), then we will consider than 50% of the cars imported by Québec come from China. In reality however, it's most probably coming from the US. -> Potential fixes to implement for the second point:

• Go fetch data from the customs of Canada which (probably) records the origin of products imported
• Use COMTRADE
• Use exiobase's international imports distribution for Canada

[MaximeAgez]

A better source for all this: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/2021004/imp-eng.htm