Curious as usual, we here at Zepol wanted to learn how Egypt’s political revolution has affected trade relations with the United States in the past year. No doubt, Egypt’s changing political and economic environments have impacted world trade, for better or worse. Furthermore, the upcoming election is a pivotal point in determining where future trade relations are headed.

The top U.S. imports from Egypt include crude oil, apparel, and textile floor coverings. In 2011, U.S. imports of oil from Egypt took a drastic drop, as control of Egypt’s oil production was murky. With the country becoming more stable in 2012, imports of oil have gradually increased. Imports of apparel items from Egypt, on the other hand, showed an increase during the height of the revolution in the past year. Overall, imports from Egypt for the first quarter of 2012 are at a five-year record high.

On the export side, the U.S. drastically increased the amount of cereals, meats, and aircraft headed to Egypt last year, while products such as vehicles and machinery showed a dip. Starting in the first quarter of 2011, overall exports headed to Egypt slid for four straight quarters. The first quarter of 2012 showed a change of pace and posted an increase in exports destined for Egypt.

Below is a graph illustrating U.S. trade with Egypt. The most recent trend shows the trade balance narrowing as Egypt prepares for a momentous election.

 

The Obama Administration has exclaimed this week (May 20, 2012) as one of the most exciting and liberating weeks of the year: World Trade Week! Most international trade professionals wait in anticipation for months to experience this seven-day-celebration. And who wouldn’t be excited? The White House has dedicated an entire week to putting an extreme emphasis on the importance of international trade and what it can do for American workers and our global economy.

Zepol is just as ecstatic because without global trade, we wouldn’t be here, or maybe we would, as a knock off of Zappos or something, who knows. What we do know is that Obama has narrowed his focused on U.S. exports with the National Export Initiative, which aims to double exports in the next five years. We also know what the top exports are from the United States because we are Zepol and we have TradeView™ data.


Zepol will soon have even more export data to add to our suite of trade data tools. This new export data will show information like U.S. shipper names, the products they export, and where the products are going to. So even though World Trade Week will come to an end, and might bring on a mild depression, remember that Zepol always has new and exciting global trade news, so you can get a slice of World Trade Week 365 days a year.

According to Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ™, total inbound shipments for April 2012 are up 9.8% from March and 8.7% from April of last year. This is the second consecutive month with high import increases and, by looking at previous years' trends, we could potentially see even greater import volume throughout the summer.

The table below shows trends in port regions of the world where shipments originated:


Below is the trend of the last 13 months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly vessel import press release:


Methodology:
Zepol's 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 vessel goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, Zepol thought it would be fun to trend the top gift for Mom, FLOWERS!...and give a friendly reminder not to forget that special Mother in your life this Sunday.

Fresh cut flowers (HTS 0603) have a blossom in imports every year in April and May, which we can attribute to Easter and of course Mother’s Day. In 2011, imports of flowers skyrocketed from March by 113% in April and 34% in May.

If you’re wondering what type of flower to buy, you can’t go wrong with roses. The rose has the highest spike around Mother’s day and an average import value of $4.44/kg. The United States imports over $300 million worth of roses every year, more than any other flower.

Chrysanthemums, alstroemeria (Peruvian lily), and carnations are the other leading ladies and show huge sprouts in Spring imports; they rose from March of 2011 by 90% in April and another 19% in May (see graph above).

Buying flowers for Mother’s Day doesn’t seem to be a wilting trend, so remember whatever flower you buy for Mom this week, she is totally worth it!