OTTAWA — Canadian exports and imports took a major hit in the first part of 2009 and never really recovered, despite some periodic spikes in the latter part of the year.

So says Stats Canada, which released its review of Canada’s international merchandise trade in 2009.

The largest decreases in exports and imports occurred mostly in the first quarter of the year. Canada exported $369.7 billion of merchandise to the world, down 24.5 percent from 2008, while imports fell 15.5 percent to $374.2 billion.

As a result, the trade balance went from a surplus of $46.9 billion in 2008 to a deficit of $4.5 billion in 2009 — the first deficit since 1975.

Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S., fell from $89.1 billion in 2008 to $34.8 billion in 2009, the lowest level in over a decade, while the trade deficit with countries narrowed to $39.3 billion in 2009 from $42.2 billion in 2008.

Last year, the United States represented 63 percent of Canada’s total merchandise trade, down from 65.7 percent in 2008 and 71.1 percent in 2005.

In all, exports to the U.S. declined 28.2 percent to $269.5 billion, led by falling prices of energy products and lower demand for automotive products. Imports fell 17.8 percent to $186.7 billion, also reflecting the weakness of automotive product imports.

For the first time, countries other than the U.S. accounted for one quarter of Canada’s exports, up from 16.2 percent in 2005. This, despite exports to these countries declined 16.9 percent in 2009.

Specifically, China replaced Japan as Canada’s third largest country of destination, behind the U.S. and the UK. Exports increased 6.6 percent to $11.2 billion, fuelled by strong exports of canola, iron ores as well as coal and other bituminous substances.

Imports from China, though, fell 7 percent from 2008 due to lower imports of computer products and toys.

Similarly, imports from countries other than the United States fell for the first time in eight years. Even with the declines, the share of imports from these countries rose to 48.8 percent in 2009 from 43.5 percent in 2005.