Zepol’s Support Team realizes U.S. Customs and Census data can be challenging to work with. Not only have we made our trade data tools incredibly easy to use, but we have the industry’s leading support team to help you find the data you need in TradeIQ™ and TradeView™.

We begin helping customers as soon as they subscribe by contacting them to schedule a personalized training session. Our training offers never expire, no matter if you are new to our trade intelligence tools or have used them for years and just want to be updated on recent enhancements. Customers are also welcome to join our monthly training session on the second Wednesday of each month at 1:00 PM U.S. Central.

Zepol’s Support Team is here live for our customers and trial users from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM U.S. Central time to answer questions and assist in setting up searches and scheduled emailed reports. Even if our customers are working late to finish a project, we have comprehensive Help Centers with new Video tabs that have short how-to videos on basic searches. You will also find FAQs, searching instructions, glossaries, and data dictionaries in the Help Centers.

Here is how you can reach Zepol’s Support Team:

• Call 612-435-2191 Ext. 2
• Email support@zepol.com
• Log a case within the TradeIQ™ and TradeView™ Help Centers

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, whether you are a current customer or just interested in our tools!

We all know that lead generation is essential to a strong sales force. Generating this information can be costly, time consuming, and inaccurate. With Zepol’s trade intelligence tools, TradeIQ™ and TradeView™, generating sales leads for companies in international trade is simple. Our customers realize significant and real results in a timely and efficient manner. Our tools provide information that is accurate, up-to-date, and easy to create. Below is a video showing how our tools generate quality leads and boost your company’s bottom line:

In the eyes of many children, this Halloween looks to be a successful one as chocolate imports are rising in preparation. This year has surpassed last year’s chocolate imports and shows significant growth that looks to continue for the rest of the year.

The graph below illustrates a trend of import values for chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa (HTS - 1806). This past August marked the highest month of chocolate imports since October of 2008 with $153 million. Additionally, chocolate imports for August have increased by 17% over July and 25% over August 2009. Expectedly, August vessel weight is up 13% over July as well as a 16% increase from last August.

 

It looks like we will not have to worry about little vampires and fairies experiencing a shortage of chocolate this Halloween. 

 

The U.S. Census Bureau released its Merchandise Trade data numbers on October 14th for August 2010. The Merchandise Trade balance increased 45.9% over last August and grew 6.1% from the previous month. Imports rose 4.0% from July and gained 30.2% over last year, while exports increased by 2.8% from the previous month and 22.3% over August 2009.

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

1. Peak shipping season changes
2. Japanese trade shrinks as the Yen strengthens
3. Los Angeles dominates ports in 2010 for total containerized trade
4. Growing Chinese imported products outside of the top 100 categories
5. Agricultural exports lifting exports as manufacturing lags
   

Click here for Zepol's U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for August 2010