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GOODS
CENSUS BASIS
The Census basis goods data are compiled from the documents collected by the U.S.
Customs Service and reflect the movement of goods between foreign countries and
the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and U.S. Foreign Trade Zones. They include government and non-government shipments
of goods, and exclude shipments between the United States and its territories
and possessions, transactions with U.S. military, diplomatic and consular
installations abroad, U.S. goods returned to the United States by its Armed
Forces, personal and household effects of travelers, and in-transit shipments.
The General Imports value reflects the total arrival of merchandise from foreign
countries that immediately enters consumption channels, warehouses, or Foreign
Trade Zones.
For imports, the value reported is the U.S. Customs Service appraised value of
merchandise; generally, the price paid for merchandise for export to the United
States. Import duties, freight, insurance, and other charges incurred in bringing
merchandise to the United States are excluded.
Exports are valued at the f.a.s.- free alongside ship value of merchandise at the
U.S. port of export, based on the transaction price including inland freight,
insurance, and other charges incurred in placing the merchandise alongside the
carrier at the U.S. port of exportation.
Monthly data include actual month's transactions as well as a small number of
transactions for previous months. Each month we revise the aggregate seasonally
adjusted (current and chain-weighted dollar) and unadjusted export, import and
trade balance figures, as well as the end-use totals for the prior month. SITC
and country detail data are not revised monthly. The timing adjustment shown in
Exhibit 14 is the difference between monthly data as originally reported and as
recompiled. Quarterly revisions are made to the chain-weighted dollar series.
In the last month of each quarter, the current and previous quarter are revised
to incorporate the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly revisions and align Census
and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis' quarterly data. Annual revisions for
the months are made in June to reflect corrections received subsequent to the
monthly revision. These revisions are reflected in totals, end-use, SITC and
country summary data. The monthly end-use, commodity, and country and area data
presented in this release are on a Census basis. This refers to Exhibits 6 - 18.
U.S./CANADA DATA EXCHANGE AND SUBSTITUTION
The data for U.S. exports to Canada are derived from import data compiled by
Canada. The use of Canada's import data to produce U.S. export data requires
several alignments in order to compare the two series.
1. Coverage -- Canadian imports are based on country of origin. U.S. goods
shipped from a third country are included. U.S. exports exclude these foreign
shipments. For April 2005, these shipments totaled $196.4 million. U.S.
export coverage also excludes certain Canadian postal shipments. For April
2005, these shipments totaled $18.0 million.
U.S. import coverage includes shipments of railcars and locomotives from
Canada. Effective with January 2004 statistics, Canada excludes these
shipments from its goods exports to the United States, therefore creating
coverage differences between the two countries for these goods.
2. Valuation -- Canadian imports are valued at the point of origin in the United
States. However, U.S. exports are valued at the port of exit in the United
States and include inland freight charges, making the U.S. export value
slightly larger. Canada requires inland freight to be reported. Inland
freight charges for April 2005 accounted for 1.9 percent of the value of
U.S. exports to Canada.
3. Reexports -- U.S. exports include reexports of foreign goods. Again, the
aggregate U.S. export figure is slightly larger. For April 2005, reexports
to Canada were $2,275 million.
4. Exchange Rate -- Average monthly exchange rates are applied to convert the
published data to U.S. currency. For April 2005, the average exchange rate
was 1.2359 Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar.
5. Other -- There are other minor differences which are statistically
insignificant, such as rounding error.
Canadian Estimates
Effective with January 2001 statistics, the current month data for exports to
Canada contain an estimate for late arrivals and corrections. The following
month, this estimate is replaced, in the press release tables only, with the
actual value of late receipts and corrections. This estimate improves the
current month data for exports to Canada and treats late receipts for exports
to Canada in a manner more consistent with the treatment of late receipts for
exports to other countries.
Nonsampling errors
The goods data are a complete enumeration of documents collected by the U.S.
Customs Service and are not subject to sampling errors; but they are subject to
several types of nonsampling errors. Quality assurance procedures are performed
at every stage of collection, processing and tabulation; however the data are
still subject to several types of nonsampling errors. The most significant of
these include reporting errors, undocumented shipments, timeliness, data capture
errors, and errors in the estimation of low-valued transactions.
Reporting Errors: Reporting errors are mistakes or omissions made by importers,
exporters or their agents in their import or export declarations. Most errors
involve missing or invalid commodity classification codes and missing or incorrect
quantities or shipping weights. They have a negligible effect on import, export
and balance of trade statistics. However, they can affect the detailed commodity
statistics.
Undocumented Shipments: Federal regulations require importers, exporters or their
agents to report all merchandise shipments above established exemption levels.
The U.S. Census Bureau has determined that not all required documents are filed,
particularly for exports.
Timeliness and Data Capture Errors: The U.S. Census Bureau captures import and
export information from administrative documents and through various automated
collection programs. Documents may be lost, and data may be incorrectly keyed,
coded or recorded. Transactions may be included in a subsequent month's
statistics if received late.
Low-valued Transactions: The total values of transactions valued as much as or
below $2,500 for exports and $2,000 ($250 for certain quota items) for imports
are estimated for each country, using factors based on the ratios of low-valued
shipments to individual country totals for past periods.
The U.S. Census Bureau recommends that data users incorporate this information
into their analyses, as nonsampling errors could impact the conclusion drawn from
the results. For a detailed discussion of errors affecting the goods data, see
"U.S. Merchandise Trade Statistics: A Quality Profile" available on the INTERNET
at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.htm#infopapers or from the Foreign Trade
Division, U.S. Census Bureau.
AREA GROUPINGS (See Exhibits 14 and 14A)
North America - Canada, Mexico
Europe - Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbijan, Belarus, Belgium,
Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Gibralter, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta and Gozo, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Jan Mayen Island, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vatican City.
European Union - Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, United Kingdom.
Euro Area - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain.
Pacific Rim - Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macao,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan.
South/Central America - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana,
Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay,
Venezuela.
OPEC - Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, Venezuela.
Africa - Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territories,
Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros,
Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger,
Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, St. Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,
Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Adjustments for Seasonal and Working-Day Variations
Goods are initially classified under the Harmonized System (HS) which describes
and measures the characteristics of goods traded. Combining trade into
approximately 140 export and 140 import end-use categories makes it possible to
examine goods according to their principal uses (See Exhibits 7 and 8). These
categories are used as the basis for computing the seasonal and working-day
adjusted data. These adjusted data are then summed to the six end-use aggregates
for publication (Exhibit 6). These data are provided to the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis, from the U.S. Census Bureau, for use in the Balance of
Payments and the National Income and Product Accounts.
The seasonal adjustment procedure is based on a model that estimates the
monthly movements as percentages above or below the general level of each end-use
commodity series (unlike other methods that redistribute the actual series values
over the calendar year). Because of the extremely variable movements of the data
series for aircraft, users studying data trends may wish to analyze aircraft
separately from other trade.
Adjustments for Price Change
Data adjusted for seasonal variation on a chained-dollar basis (2000 base year)
are presented in Exhibits 10 and 11. This adjustment for price change is done
using the Fisher chain-weighted methodology. The deflators are primarily based
upon the monthly price indexes published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics using
techniques developed for the National Income and Product Accounts by the U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis.
SITC Data
Goods data appearing in Exhibit 15 are classified in terms of the Standard
International Trade Classification (SITC) Revision 3. Agricultural goods consist
of non-marine food products and other products of agriculture which have not
passed through complex processes of manufacture, such as raw hides and skins,
fats and oils, and wine. A few goods such as essential oils, starches, casein,
and albumin, considered to be agricultural by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
have been excluded from agricultural goods and are included in manufactured goods
where they are classified in the SITC.
Manufactured goods conform to the SITC sections that include chemicals and related
products; manufactured goods classified chiefly by material; machinery and
transport equipment; miscellaneous manufactured articles; and goods and
transactions not classified elsewhere.
Reexports are foreign merchandise entering the country as imports, and at the
time of exportation are in substantially the same condition as when imported.
Reexports, included in overall export totals, appear as separate line items in
Exhibit 15.
Advanced Technology Products (ATP)
About 500 of some 22,000 commodity classification codes used in reporting U.S.
merchandise trade are identified as "advanced technology" codes and they meet
the following criteria:
1. The code contains products whose technology is from a recognized high
technology field (e.g., biotechnology).
2. These products represent leading edge technology in that field.
3. Such products constitute a significant part of all items covered in the
selected classification code.
The aggregation of the goods results in a measure of advanced technology trade
which appears in Exhibit 16. This product and commodity-based measure of advanced
technology differs from broader NAICS industry-based measures which include all
goods produced by a particular industry group, regardless of the level of
technology embodied in the goods.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS (BOP) BASIS
Goods on a Census basis are adjusted by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to
goods on a BOP basis to bring the data in line with the concepts and definitions
used to prepare the international and national accounts. Broadly, the adjustments
include changes in ownership that occur without goods passing into or out of the
customs territory of the United States. These adjustments are necessary to
supplement coverage of the Census basis data, to eliminate duplication of
transactions recorded elsewhere in the international accounts, and to value
transactions according to a standard definition.
The export adjustments include:
U.S. military sales contracts - This deduction of U.S. military sales contracts
is made because the U.S. Census Bureau has included these contracts in the
goods data, but BEA includes them in the service category "Transfers Under U.S.
Military Sales Contracts." BEA's source material for these contracts is more
comprehensive, but has no distinction between goods and services.
Private gift parcels - This addition is made for parcels mailed to foreigners
by individuals through the U.S. Postal Service. (Only commercial shipments
are covered in Census goods exports.)
Gold exports, nonmonetary - This addition is made for gold that is purchased
by foreign official agencies from private dealers in the United States and
held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Census data only include
gold that leaves the customs territory.
Some smaller adjustments are also made to exports:
Deductions for repairs of goods, developed motion picture film, and military
grant-aid. Additions for sales of fish in U.S. territorial waters, exports of
electricity to Mexico, and vessels and oil rigs that change ownership for
which no export document is filed.
The import adjustments include:
Inland freight in Canada - An addition is made for inland freight in Canada.
Imports of goods from all countries are valued at the foreign port of export,
including inland freight charges ("customs value"). In the case of Canada,
this should be the cost of the goods at the U.S. border. However, the customs
value for imports for certain Canadian goods is the point of origin in Canada.
The BEA makes an addition for the inland freight charges of transporting these
Canadian goods to the U.S. border to make the value comparable to the customs
value as reported by all other countries. Insurance and freight charges for
transporting goods to the United States from all other countries to the U.S.
border are included in services by the BEA. (The same procedure is used for
Mexico as an Other Adjustment, but is much smaller.)
Gold imports, nonmonetary - This addition is made for gold sold by foreign
official agencies to private purchasers out of stock held at the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York. The Census data only include gold that enters the customs
territory.
Imports by U.S. military agencies - This deduction of U.S. military sales
contracts is made because the U.S. Census Bureau has included these contracts
in the goods data, but BEA includes them in the service category "Direct Defense
Expenditures." BEA's source material is more comprehensive, but has no
distinction between goods and services.
Some smaller adjustments are also made to imports:
Deductions for repairs of goods and developed motion picture film. Additions
for imported electricity from Mexico, conversion of vessels for commercial use,
repairs to U.S. vessels abroad, and valuation of prepackaged software imports
at market value.
SERVICES
The statistics are estimates of services transactions between foreign countries
and the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and other U.S. territories and possessions. Transactions with U.S. military,
diplomatic, and consular installations abroad are excluded because they are
considered to be part of the U.S. economy.
Services are shown in seven broad categories. Types of services for imports and
exports are the same for six of the seven categories. For the seventh, exports is
"Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts" while for imports the category is
"Direct Defense Expenditures." The following is a brief description of the types
of services included in each category:
Travel - Purchases of services and goods by U.S. travelers abroad and by foreign
visitors to the United States. A traveler is defined as a person who stays for
a period of less than 1 year in a country of which the person is not a resident.
Includes expenditures for food, lodging, recreation, gifts, and other items
incidental to a foreign visit.
Passenger Fares - Fares paid by residents of one country to residents of other
countries. Receipts consist of fares received by U.S. carriers from foreign
residents for travel between the United States and foreign countries and between
two foreign points. Payments consist of fares paid by U.S. residents to foreign
carriers for travel between the United States and foreign countries.
Other Transportation - Charges for the transportation of goods by ocean, air,
waterway, pipeline, and rail carriers to and from the United States. Includes
freight charges, operating expenses that transportation companies incur in
foreign ports, and payments for vessel charter and aircraft rentals with crew.
Royalties and License Fees - Transactions with foreign residents involving
intangible assets and proprietary rights, such as the use of patents, techniques,
processes, formulas, designs, know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and
manufacturing rights. The term "royalties" generally refers to payments for the
utilization of copyrights or trademarks, and the term "license fees" generally
refers to payments for the use of patents or industrial processes.
Other Private Services - Transactions with affiliated foreigners, for which no
identification by type is available, and of transactions with unaffiliated
foreigners. (The term "affiliated" refers to a direct investment relationship,
which exists when a U.S. person has ownership or control, directly or indirectly,
of 10 percent or more of a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or
the equivalent, or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S.
enterprise.) Transactions with unaffiliated foreigners consist of education
services; financial services (includes commissions and other transactions fees
associated with the purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income of
banks, and excludes investment income); insurance services; telecommunications
services (includes transmission services and value-added services); and business,
professional, and technical services. Included in the last group are advertising
services; computer and data processing services; database and other information
services; research, development, and testing services; management, consulting,
and public relations services; legal services; construction, engineering,
architectural, and mining services; industrial engineering services; installation,
maintenance, and repair of equipment; and other services, including medical
services and film and tape rentals.
Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts (Exports only) - Exports of goods
and services in which U.S. Government military agencies participate. Includes
both goods, such as equipment, and services, such as repair services and training,
that cannot be separately identified.
Direct Defense Expenditures (Imports only) - Expenditures incurred by U.S.
military agencies abroad, including expenditures by U.S. personnel, payments
of wages to foreign residents, construction expenditures, payments for foreign
contractual services, and procurement of foreign goods. Includes both goods
and services that cannot be separately identified.
U.S. Government Miscellaneous Services - Transactions of U.S. Government
nonmilitary agencies with foreign residents. Most of these transactions
involve the provision of services to, or purchases of services from, foreigners;
transfers of some goods are also included.
Services estimates are based on quarterly, annual, and benchmark surveys and
partial information generated from monthly reports. Service transactions are
estimated at market prices. Estimates are seasonally adjusted when statistically
significant seasonal patterns are present. No country or area detail is available
due to the lack of adequate source data upon which to base estimates.
The revision policy is as follows: Each month, a preliminary estimate for the
current month and a revised estimate for the immediately preceding month are
released. After a revised month is released, no further changes are made to
that month until more complete source data become available in March, June,
September, and December. The releases in March, June, September, and December
contain revised data for the previous six months. The release in March also
contains revisions for all months of the previous year in order to align the
seasonally adjusted monthly data with annual totals. The release in June
contains annual revisions, which reflect updated source data and changes in
estimating methodologies.
Quarterly and annual estimates of services are included as part of the U.S.
international transactions accounts, published in the April, July, October, and
January issues of the Survey of Current Business. The next release of the U.S.
international transactions accounts is scheduled for June 17, 2005. The Survey
is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
MONTHLY RELEASE SCHEDULE
DATE Day
Jan. . . . .03-11-05 Friday
Feb. . . . .04-12-05 Tuesday
Mar. . . . .05-11-05 Wednesday
Apr. . . . .06-10-05 Friday
May. . . . .07-13-05 Wednesday
Jun. . . . .08-12-05 Friday
Jul. . . . .09-13-05 Tuesday
Aug. . . . .10-13-05 Thursday
Sep. . . . .11-10-05 Thursday
Oct. . . . .12-14-05 Wednesday
Nov. . . . .01-12-06 Thursday
Dec. . . . .02-10-06 Friday
ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY
The FT-900 and supplement are available on the following:
INTERNET The U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services reports are available
at: www.census.gov/ft900 or www.bea.gov/bea/di/home/trade.htm.
STAT-USA The U.S. Department of Commerce's electronic information facility.
Call 1 800 STAT-USA for product information.
Additional data and information on goods are obtainable from: Foreign Trade
Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, D.C. 20233
Additional data and information on services are obtainable from: Balance of
Payments Division, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Washington, D.C. 20230
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