Nicknamed “The Energy Province” with the slogan “Wild Rose Country” and located in Western Canada, the province of Alberta shipped CDN$183.2 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2024.

That dollar amount results from a 98% increase from $92.5 billion five years earlier in 2020.

Year over year, the overall revenues from Albertan exports rose 4.5% compared to $175.3 billion for 2023.

Petroleum-rich Alberta ranks as Canada’s second-biggest exporter by province or territory behind the front-runner province Ontario and ahead of third-place Quebec. The value of Alberta’s exports equals 32.2% of Canada’s overall exported products for 2024, up from 23.6% in 2023.

Based on an article from ATB Financial, Alberta’s exported products represent 53.1% of the province’s total economic output or real Gross Domestic Product ($344.7 billion for 2024). Currency used for this calculation was based on Canadian dollars as reported by Government of Canada’s Trade Data Online.

Given Alberta’s population of 4.9 million people, its total CDN$183.2 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $37,500 for every resident in the Western Canadian province. That dollar metric surpasses the average $37,150 per capita one year earlier in 2023.

Alberta’s unemployment rate was 7.1% at the end of March 2025, up from 6.5% for one year earlier per YCharts.

Alberta’s Top 15 Exports

The following export products represent the highest dollar value for Alberta’s global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Alberta.

Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.

1. Crude petroleum oils: CDN$124.2 billion (67.8% of Alberta’s total exports)
2. Natural gas (gaseous state): $5.5 billion (3%)
3. Miscellaneous petroleum oils: $3.3 billion (1.8%)
4. Boneless beef cuts (fresh or chilled): $2.48 billion (1.4%)
5. Ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers: $2.42 billion (1.3%)
6. Wheat (excluding durum): $2.4 billion (1.3%)
7. Liquified propane: $2.34 billion (1.3%)
8. Colza oilseed, rapeseed (low erucic acid): $1.72 billion (0.9%)
9. Petroleum bitumen: $1.44 billion (0.8%)
10. Miscellaneous cattle: $1.4 billion (0.8%)
11. Crude canola/colza oil (low erucic acid): $1.2 billion (0.6%)
12. Sawn or chipped evergreen lumber: $1.09 billion (0.6%)
13. Ethylene glycol (ethanediol): $1.07 million (0.6%)
14. Oil-cake, other solid residues from canola/colza seeds: $1.06 million (0.6%)
15. Coal (non-agglomerated, bituminous): $1.03 million (0.6%)

Alberta’s top 15 export product categories generated 83.2% of the overall value of the province’s global shipments.

Miscellaneous cattle represents the fastest grower among Alberta’s top 15 export products, up by 40.8% from 2023 to 2024.

In second place for improving export sales was Albertan miscellaneous petroleum oils via a 27.8% expansion.

Alberta’s shipments of liquified propane recorded the third-fastest gain in value up by 18.5%, ahead of exported ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers (up 16.5%).

The severest decliners among Alberta’s top export products were non-agglomerated bituminous coal dragged down by a -43.2% drop year over year, natural gas in gaseous state (down -31%), wheat excluding durum (down -22.9%), low erucic acid crude canola or colza oil (down -14.4%), then ethylene glycol (down -13.6%).

More Key Facts about Alberta’s International Trade

Overall, Alberta earned a CDN$143 billion surplus exporting and importing products during 2024. That dollar amount reflects a 6.6% year-over-year increase from $134.1 billion in black ink for 2023.

Another way of saying surplus or deficit is positive or negative net exports. In a nutshell, the term “net exports” quantifies the amount by which foreign spending on a province’s goods or services exceeds or lags that same province’s spending on imported foreign goods or services.

Below are Alberta’s top 10 import products highlighting the province’s highest spending on foreign-origin goods in 2024, accounting for 31.7% of the total.

1. Light petroleum oils: CDN$8.2 billion (20.4% of Alberta’s total imports)
2. Crude petroleum oils: $1 billion (2.5%)
3. Miscellaneous petroleum oils: $734.2 billion (1.8%)
4. Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $457.5 million (1.1%)
5. Ethanol (denatured): $436.7 million (1.1%)
6. Miscellaneous cattle: $431.5 million (1.1%)
7. Taps, valves, similar appliances: $416 million (1%)
8. Semi-trailer road tractors: $410.9 million (1%)
9. Acrylic polymers in primary forms: $330.4 million (0.8%)
10. Ammonium dihydrogenorthophosphates: $326 million (0.8%)

Surpassing outflows for the above imports, Alberta has highly positive net exports in the international trade of crude petroleum oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate Alberta’s competitive advantages under related energy product categories.

Alberta’s Major Trade Partners

The following list shows the top 10 customers that purchased 96.4% worth of the total value of products exported from the province of Alberta during 2024.

1. United States: CDN$162.1 billion (88.5% of Alberta’s total exports)
2. mainland China: $6.7 billion (3.7%)
3. Japan: $2.7 billion (1.5%)
4. South Korea: $1.2 billion (0.6%)
5. Mexico: $792.9 million (0.4%)
6. Peru: $771.6 million (0.4%)
7. Singapore: $668.5 million (0.4%)
8. India: $620.1 million (0.3%)
9. Hong Kong: $553.9 million (0.3%)
10. Netherlands: $523.9 million (0.3%)

Alberta’s trade partners in North America (United States and Mexico) bought 88.9% of the overall value of export sales for The Energy Province during 2024.

Albertan Export Companies

Below are some of Canada’s largest businesses that are involved in international trade either directly or indirectly. Their corporate headquarters are in the province of Alberta.

• Canadian Natural Resources (oil and gas)
• Canadian Pacific Railway (transportation)
• Cenovus Energy (oil and gas)
• Enbridge (oil and gas)
• Husky Energy (oil and gas)
• Pembina Pipeline (oil and gas)
• Suncor Energy (oil and gas)
• TC Energy (oil and gas)

Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the international trade-related products or services which each business manages.
 
Alberta’s capital is Edmonton, nicknamed “The Big E” and “Edmonchuk”. Edmonton also has a wide range of other nicknames.

See also Canada’s Top 10 Exports, Canada’s Top 10 Imports and Top Canadian Trade Balances

Research Sources:
ATB Financial, Finding its stride: Alberta’s economy in 2024 and 2025. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Government of Canada, Trade Data Online, Total exports, Distribution by province. Accessed on April 27, 2025

IBIS World, Alberta – Province Economic Profile. Accessed on April 27, 2025

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on April 27, 2025

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Statistics Canada, Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, by province and territory. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Alberta. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Flag of Alberta. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, List of largest public companies in Canada by profit. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, List of provincial and territorial nicknames in Canada. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, List of largest companies in Canada. Accessed on April 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Category:Manufacturing companies of Canada. Accessed on April 27, 2025

YCharts, Alberta Unemployment Rate. Accessed on April 27, 2025