Zepol has partnered with World Trade 100 to launch its latest report on the free trade agreements between the United States and South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. In this report, you’ll discover how other professionals feel about the FTAs, what the current trade trends are with those countries, and if the FTAs have made an immediate impact on commerce.

Click Here To Download the Report Free

The report, dubbed Breaking Barriers with Free Trade Agreements, features a survey of 275 trade professionals, expert commentary from Perry Trunick, Editor in Chief at World Trade 100, and import/export statistics from Zepol.

Key Findings from Breaking Barriers

• The most popular FTA is with South Korea. 31% of survey respondents say their company will use the agreements in some way.
• Colombia’s FTA will most likely have a high impact on fuel trade. 75% of the products imported to the United States from Colombia are mineral fuels.
• The United States exports nine times more to Panama than it imports. In 2011, exports went up 36% from 2010.

According to Zepol's online database of U.S. ocean imports, TradeIQ™, July TEUs are up 9% from June and up from July of 2011 by 10.8%. The increase pushed July to a record-high for the year in terms of import volume per month.

The table below shows continental port regions of the world where U.S. import 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 (FROB), and may contain other data anomalies.

According to Zepol's online database of U.S. ocean imports, TradeIQ™, June TEUs are down 3.7% from May, but up from June of 2011 by 4.4%. Q2 of 2012 also topped last year's second quarter by 4.7%.

The table below shows continental port regions of the world where U.S. import 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.  

In recent months, U.S. exports of gold have climbed to levels not seen in several years. Year-to-date, U.S. gold exports have reached over $12 billion and are up 67% from last year and over 135% from 2010. The graph below illustrates the significant increase for 2012 compared with recent years. A key question on our mind is: where’s all this gold headed?


Using Zepol’s TradeView™, we find that in past years, the top importers of U.S. gold have included the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and India. While those countries have seen a steady increase in gold imports for 2012, there’s one country that has significantly impacted the upward trend. Switzerland, in particular, reached the top of our list so far for 2012 and has increased gold imports from the United States by over 200% this year compared with last year. Below are the top ten countries importing gold from the United States for 2012. If exports continue at the current pace, we may reach a record-high year for U.S. gold exports.


Note: Data is based on HS Code: 7108 - Gold (including Gold Plated With Platinum), Unwrought Or In Semimanufactured Forms, Or In Powder Form