On June 5th, we completed the data for May in our U.S. Customs trade data tool,
TradeIQ. For the fourth month in a row, import shipments increased, rising 5.68% over April. May 2010 shipments also rose greatly over the previous year, up a whopping 19.55% over May 2009.
Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:
| Port Region |
May 2010
Shipments |
Percent Change
over Apr 2010 |
Percent Change
over May 2009 |
| Asia |
559,534 |
7.63% |
23.13% |
| Europe |
109,796 |
1.57% |
14.5% |
| Central America (includes Mexico) |
58,644 |
3.18% |
5.64% |
| South America |
22,148 |
-0.88% |
21.99% |
North America
|
9,508 |
10.56% |
-2.41% |
| Unknown |
8,211 |
-8.85% |
8.74% |
| Australia |
6,868 |
-6.67% |
-1.44% |
| Africa |
3,618 |
-16.69% |
28.57% |
| Total |
778,327 |
5.68% |
19.55% |
While Asian trade looks strong for May 2010 relative to April 2010 and May 2009, a glance at quarterly shipments since quarter three of 2007 shows that the regions' shipments have yet to return to pre-recession levels. Though June data is needed before we can compare the performance of quarter two, we can see that with 1,470,958 shipments, quarter one is up 13% over the same quarter in 2009, but still down 7% from 2008.
Below is a chart of Asia's quarterly shipments, starting with Quarter 3 of 2007:
The collection methods used by U.S. Customs for AMS data can lead to an
overstatement of shipments for some ports, as imports and exports from
Prince Rupert and Vancouver are often recorded as imports for the U.S.
Moreover, the data includes shipments from empty containers, may
overstate totals from transshipments, and may contain other data
anomalies as well.
Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data
is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest
System. This information represents the number of House manifests
entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This indicator
is the earliest data available for the previous month’s trade activity.