06:54 AM EDT, 10/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Just to show how the extreme rally in gold and silver has transformed things, Canadian exports of these precious metals have matched exports of cars & light trucks in the past 12 months, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Both sectors were just above $58 billion, note the bank.

That means that after crude oil, gold is as such about to become Canada's second biggest export -- assuming the recent gold price correction doesn't turn into a free fall, stated BMO.

Gold long ago blasted past worthies such as potash and electricity, pointed out the bank. But it has now gone well above the much bigger export components of natural gas, all farm & fish products, and even all forestry products -- in other words, lumber, pulp & paper, and building and packaging materials.

At the turn of the century, exports of cars & trucks were about 20 times the level of gold exports, while forestry products were about 15 times as large, added BMO.

While much of the surge in precious metals exports is price-driven, the bank estimates that underlying volumes have also risen by nearly 70% since 2000.