With the
World Cup kicking off in South Africa today, we at Zepol were curious to know what effect the excitement leading up to the tournament has had on shipments of soccer balls to the U.S.
A search run in TradeIQ™ reveals that soccer ball shipments spiked in May, with 144 total shipments to the U.S., or 14.88% of all shipments since June 2009. May also saw a 51.58% increase in total shipments over April.
The graph below depicts the monthly number of soccer ball shipments from the top five exporting countries since May 2009.
Further analysis shows that this spike in soccer ball shipments is not unique to South Africa’s World Cup. TradeIQ™ shows a similar spike in total shipments in May 2006, the month prior to Germany’s World Cup. Years in which a World Cup tournament did not occur show less total shipments relative to World Cup years.
Furthermore, when comparing shipments during the month prior to the World Cup in both 2006 and 2010, we see that total soccer ball shipments to the U.S. increased by 15.2% since the last World Cup, with 125 shipments in May 2006 versus 144 shipments in May 2010.
The graph below depicts the trend in soccer ball shipments to the U.S. during the month of May since 2006. World Cup years are circled in red.
