Kentucky
- 96,400 Kentucky jobs depend on trade with Canada
- 4,400 Kentuckians are employed by Canadian-owned businesses
- Kentucky sells more goods to Canada than to any other country in the world
- Total Canada–Kentucky goods trade: $11.0 billion
Groundbreaking for Ferus Corp’s new liquid nitrogen facility (photo: office of Governor Steve Beshear)
Ferus Corp
Ferus Corp, a Calgary chemical company, has built a new liquid nitrogen facility in Jenkins. Ferus specializes in providing integrated solutions to the energy industry for well stimulation, well completions and enhanced oil recovery. The new facility has created 33 new jobs and the company expects to grow the workforce.
The development of this new site brought a capital investment of $30.8 million in the state.
Driving Kentucky–Canada trade
Canada’s Martinrea International Inc. is a global leader in the production of quality metal parts, assemblies and modules, and fluid management systems. In Kentucky, Martinrea operates two facilities in Shelbyville and Hopkinsville. The company recently announced new investments in both operations. In Shelbyville, the plant produces automotive metal stampings and assemblies for the Ford Motor Company’s next generation Escape. The expansion created 150 new jobs and a $12 million investment in Kentucky. Martinrea has also recently invested $13.7 million in the Hopkinsville plant. The facility, which produces world-class engine cradles, crossmembers, and control arms that literally hold up the wheels of a car. The plant employs over 500 people, up from 160 when Martinrea bought it in 2005.
In June 2012, Vancouver-based Westport Innovations Inc. celebrated the grand opening of its Westport Kentucky Integration Center in Louisville. Westport is a global leader in alternative fuel and low-emission transportation technologies. The new facility installs commpressed natural gas fuel systems in Ford Super Duty pickup trucks and is conveniently located directly across the street from Ford’s truck plant. Westport’s choice of Kentucky for its expansion created 40 new Louisville jobs.
For more information on Kentucky’s trade with Canada, please contact:
Consulate General of Canada
600 Renaissance Center, Suite 1100 • Detroit, MI 48243-1798
Phone: (313) 567-2340 • Fax: (313) 567-2164
August 2012
Unless otherwise mentioned, all figures are based on 2011 data in U.S. dollars (US$1.00=C$0.9891). Statistics Canada: tourism, based on combined same-day and overnight travel (5/2012 release); goods & services trade (2/2012 release). World Institute for Strategic Economic Research (WISER): Canada’s export ranking (2/2012 release). U.S. Census Bureau: trade (2/2012 release). Services trade data not available at a sub-national level. Figures may not add up due to rounding. Produced by the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.
Supplemental content
Kentucky–Canada facts
Foreign export markets
- Largest export market: Canada
- % foreign-bound goods sold to Canada: 32%
Kentucky sells more goods to Canada than to the state’s next five largest foreign markets combined
Merchandise trade
- Kentucky exports to Canada: $6.5 billion
- Kentucky imports from Canada: $4.6 billion
- Bilateral trade: $11.0 billion
Jobs*
- # jobs that depend on trade with Canada: 96,400
- # employed by Canadian-owned businesses: 4,400
* Job numbers from trade (2010 data) and Canadian-owned businesses (2009 data) are from a 2012 study commissioned by the Government of Canada
Tourism
- Kentucky visits by Canadians: 518,400, $61 million spent
- Kentucky visits to Canada: 70,600, $33 million spent
Top exports
- Trucks: $1.1 billion
- Motor vehicle parts: $763 million
- Automobiles: $726 million
- Plastics & plastic articles: $322 million
- Telephones & AV recording equipment: $264 million
- Iron & steel alloys & semi-finished products: $259 million
- Engines & turbines: $170 million
- Books & printed material: $156 million
- Optical, medical & precision instruments: $149 million
- Aircraft: $149 million
- Rubber & rubber articles: $105 million
- Paper & paperboard: $103 million
- Iron & steel tubes, pipes & sheets: $101 million
Top imports
- Inorganic chemicals: $663 million
- Aluminum & aluminum articles: $552 million
- Medicine, in dosage: $432 million
- Motor vehicle parts: $378 million
- Engines & turbines: $374 million
- Plastics & plastic articles: $204 million
- Paper & paperboard: $187 million
- Rubber & rubber articles: $159 million
- Organic chemicals: $159 million
- Iron & steel alloys & semi-finished products: $115 million
- Computers: $96 million
- Beverages & alcohol: $87 million
- Iron & steel tubes, pipes & sheets: $68 million
Kentucky exports $6.5 billion in goods to Canada
- Transportation (43%)
- Equipment & machinery (23%)
- Minerals & metals (10%)
- Chemicals (7%)
- Plastics & rubbers (7%)
- Forest products (4%)
- Other (7%)
Kentucky imports $4.6 billion in goods from Canada
- Chemicals (29%)
- Equipment & machinery (19%)
- Minerals & metals (19%)
- Transportation (10%)
- Plastics & rubbers (8%)
- Forest products (6%)
- Other (9%)
