The U.S. Census Bureau released their Merchandise Trade data numbers on October 9th, 2009. August was the first month since April that the merchandise trade deficit decreased. Weaker Import activity was the main cause, however Exports did slightly increase to compound an 11.6% decrease over July’s deficit (click here to see July's U.S. Census data update). Export totals increased 2.0% while total Imports decreased by 3.0%.

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

1. Tire importers are not the only companies who are concerned with the tariff on Chinese tires
2. BRICs countries make up half of the U.S. trade deficit in 2009
3. Consumer goods are driving Exports
4. Containerized volumes for Pacific ports lag behind the rest of the country
5. Toy Imports will suffer in 2009

Click here for Zepol’s U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for August 2009