The U.S. Census Bureau released its Merchandise Trade data numbers on October 14th for August 2010. The Merchandise Trade balance increased 45.9% over last August and grew 6.1% from the previous month. Imports rose 4.0% from July and gained 30.2% over last year, while exports increased by 2.8% from the previous month and 22.3% over August 2009.

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

1. Peak shipping season changes
2. Japanese trade shrinks as the Yen strengthens
3. Los Angeles dominates ports in 2010 for total containerized trade
4. Growing Chinese imported products outside of the top 100 categories
5. Agricultural exports lifting exports as manufacturing lags
   

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