Halloween is upon us and to celebrate we decided to do what we do best, research. Halloween has a number of sterotypical products associated with it. Below you will see some of their import activity over the past rolling year.

Interestingly, Hog Guts, Bladders, and Stomachs is rated number one in total value on our list. And don't worry, sales of Brooms imported to the U.S. are down 19.73% in August from July, so analysts are saying that the likelyhood for random witch attacks are way down this year.

But we at Zepol would like to remind you to be cautious anyways, and wish you a safe, happy Halloween.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that they have seized more than 3.4 million pieces of counterfeit party supplies. These products were from well known brands and had a retail value of over $4 million. It is clear that some of Customs Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) efforts are successful, but Zepol wonders what amount of pirated goods are never caught by authorities.

The U.S. Commerce Department also announced that they have launched a dumping investigation into the imports of commodity matchbooks from India. This comes close after an investigation of fasteners from China and Taiwan and the headline news of antidumping duties being placed on Chinese made tires. These are important actions for U.S. based manufacturers of these products, but could increase prices for U.S. consumers and businesses.

It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration prioritizes trade practices like those involved in IP and dumping cases. Recently, Commerce Secretary Locke pushed IPR on a trip to China, but dumping investigations are also a favorite subject of Labor. How this administration acts on these hot button trade topics in the next couple of months will be of great interest to importers and the companies that service them.

Zepol has been helping companies identify IPR violators and associated risks during the last several years and we have put some of these experiences in a case study, click here. We also have recently worked with several companies to document evidence in dumping cases to bring to the Department of Commerce. These are just some examples of how our customers are aggressively defending their businesses on multiple trade law fronts.

Customs and Border Protection has a nice site that helps new importers and exporters understand how to start trading on the international stage. If you are just starting to move your business international, it is highly recommended to read the information on this site and the linked pages. This site provides specific tactical advice on how to begin importing and exporting.

CBP Tips for New Importers and Exporters

The other part of beginning to both import and export is understanding the market and environment which you are entering. Doing basic research into how much of the type of product you plan on trading is imported and exported and what related markets are growing can be the difference between a successful entry and a disaster. Zepol recommends trying trade data to do this research as it can give you specific information about product categories and different countries’ import and export profiles.

U.S. Census data, which Zepol’s TradeView provides, can quickly and easily help you identify the right markets to enter. U.S. Customs data, which Zepol’s TradeIQ exposes, can give you the specific company names for suppliers and U.S. importers in order to define the right partners to work with and fully understand the competitive landscape.

Visit www.zepol.com to receive a free trial or to participate in a demonstration of both of our trade data tools. We enjoy helping companies who are new to importing and exporting understand what they can do to make a successful entry into the international marketplace.

The U.S. Census Bureau released their Merchandise Trade data numbers on October 9th, 2009. August was the first month since April that the merchandise trade deficit decreased. Weaker Import activity was the main cause, however Exports did slightly increase to compound an 11.6% decrease over July’s deficit (click here to see July's U.S. Census data update). Export totals increased 2.0% while total Imports decreased by 3.0%.

Below is an in-depth breakdown of the U.S. Census Merchandise Trade data released last week. This month we have highlighted 5 interesting items that we found while looking at August's data; here are the hightlights:

1. Tire importers are not the only companies who are concerned with the tariff on Chinese tires
2. BRICs countries make up half of the U.S. trade deficit in 2009
3. Consumer goods are driving Exports
4. Containerized volumes for Pacific ports lag behind the rest of the country
5. Toy Imports will suffer in 2009

Click here for Zepol’s U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for August 2009