April imports have skyrocketed by 22.7% from March and are slightly above April of 2012 by 1.3%. Imports haven't been this high in the month of April since 2007 and there hasn't been this dramatic of an increase month-to-month in over a year.

“So far this year, U.S. imports are about 1% higher than last year and over 4% higher than 2011,” states Zepol’s CEO Paul Rasmussen, “Although 2013 is still 5% below 2007, the highest year recorded for ocean imports, 2013 could still turn out to have the highest import volume the United States has seen in the last five years.”

You can read more about April's imports in our Press Release Here.

 
Methodology:
Zepol’s data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). 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.       

Although, those elephants wouldn’t be Asian, but rather Irish, because for once the leading supplier of something isn’t China. The top country exporting organic chemicals to the United States is actually Ireland. Ireland shipped about $11.7 billion worth of organic chemicals to the United States in 2012 and China’s exports were about $6.4 billion.

So what are organic chemicals and what’s so Irish about them? The U.S. trade commission classifies organic chemicals under chapter 29 of the harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) and Webster defines them as any chemical containing carbon. The leading organic chemicals imported include aromatic compounds used as drugs, cardiovascular drugs, lactam products and much more. So basically, it’s a lot of carbon-based drugs and Ireland produces a significant amount of them.

The United States imports a lot of food, like a whole lot, like $17.6 billion worth of just fruits and vegetables in 2012.

Most of that precious produce comes from Central and South America. Last year, the United States got 35% of its produce (by container ship) from South America and the majority of that comes from the rich soils of Chile. Chile sent over $1.3 billion worth of produce by vessel in 2012.

(To the right are the top produce imports to the United States from South America in 2012, created on infogr.am)

The top produce cruising its way here is fresh grapes. Grapes make up almost a quarter of all produce that comes from the continent, which is over $678 million worth. Bananas come in a close second with about 20% of South American produce exports. The third most popular crop is surprisingly cranberries and blueberries, which are about 7% of imports.

All that produce travels to both coasts of the United States, but the top port of entry is the Port of Philadelphia. That’s right, a quarter of all those grapes and nanners enter through Philly before entering your mouth. As for the western side of the nation, Los Angeles brings in 15% of South American produce, which was about $400 million worth in 2012.

I think we all know what springtime actually means. Baseball. The nation’s most beloved sport has returned to us. The hot dogs are rotating, the beer is flowing, umpire hollers are bringing Joe Mauers. You get the idea.

Baseball is not only the nation’s most beloved sport, but Zepol found that it’s actually the top category of sporting equipment imported to the United States (by vessel). This spring alone, American importers have brought in over 10,000 metric tons of baseball equipment. Included in those tons are: 1,430 tons of baseball gloves, 1,730 tons of bats, 345 tons of pants, and 1,687 tons of caps. Holy buckets! Kirby Pucketts?!

Some of the hundreds of companies bringing in baseball products in Quarter 1 of 2013 are VF Imagewear, Dollar Tree, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Wilson, Disney, and more.

Let’s just say this summer there will be no shortage of ballgame gear for your local sandlot or, more realistically, lounging in front of your TV half-asleep.

If you want to search for more companies or products with Zepol's TradeIQ Click Here.

(To the right is a graph of different types of sporting equipment brought into the United States by vessel. created on infogr.am)