The U.S. Census Bureau released their Merchandise Trade data numbers on March 10th for January 2010. The Merchandise Trade balance has declined by 7.0% from December to return to levels last seen in August 2009. Both imports and exports fell by about 6.6%, ending a two month trend of growth. However, in comparison to 2009, all numbers are heading in a positive direction; exports are up by 18.3%, imports by 11.3%, and the Merchandise Trade balance is down by 1.0%.

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 December's data; here are the highlights:

1. New York Falling in Love with Coffee
2. Asia's Economy Recovering More Quickly than Europe's
3. Housing Market Still Down
4. Haiti to Grow Textile Industry
5. National Export Initiative Projections
   

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