The U.S. Census Bureau released its Merchandise Trade data numbers on March 10th for January 2011. The Merchandise Trade balance increased an impressive 19% over January 2010, but posted a decrease of 5.77% over December 2010. Imports to the U.S. increased 22.19% from January 2010 to January 2011 and exports increased nearly 19% in the same time period.

Below is an in-depth breakdown of the U.S. Census Merchandise Trade data. This month we have highlighted 3 interesting items that we found while looking at January's data; here are the highlights:

1. Air cargo decreased
2. The value of oil increased
3. Consumer goods imports have decreased

Click here for Zepol's U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for January 2011