OTTAWA - Canada's trade deficit in August shrank to $1.94 billion, the lowest for eight months, as exports posted a third consecutive gain and imports stayed flat, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

The deficit, the 24th in a row, was less than the $2.60 billion shortfall predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll. Statscan revised July's deficit down to $2.19 billion from an initial $2.49 billion.

Exports rose by 0.6 per cent on the back of a healthy performance by the consumer goods and metallic products sections. This could please the Bank of Canada, which says non-energy exports are crucial to helping revive an economy hobbled by low oil prices. Energy exports also increased.

Overall imports were unchanged as energy product imports fell for the first time in six months, offsetting gains in the motor vehicles, consumer goods and metallic products sections.

Exports to the United States, which took 74.7 per cent of all Canadian exports in August, fell by 1.6 per cent while imports slipped by 0.1 per cent. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the United States dropped to $2.50 billion from $3.00 billion in July.