On September 7th, we completed the data for August in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ. With a 7.28% increase in total shipments, August brought back the trend of increasing import shipments witnessed in the previous six months, excluding July. The 20.08% increase over the previous year also indicates that trade to the U.S. continues to gain strength.

Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:

To get a clearer picture of the upward trend discussed above, the graph below details total shipments to the U.S. from all port regions over September 2009 - August 2010. Steady growth is seen from March 2010 onward.

 

The collection methods used by U.S. Customs for AMS data can lead to an overstatement of shipments for some ports, as imports and exports from Prince Rupert and Vancouver are often recorded as imports for the U.S. Moreover, the data includes shipments from empty containers, may overstate totals from transshipments, and may contain other data anomalies as well.

Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This indicator is the earliest data available for the previous month’s trade activity.

I just got back from a week long vacation to Ireland where I saw many of the scenes in Dublin and across the country. It is a beautiful place and lucky for me, it did not rain much, making for a pleasant reprieve from the late summer heat and humidity of the Midwest. Like most tours of Ireland, I saw the Cliffs of Moher and walked through countless ancient churches, but my visit to the Guinness plant will be an enduring highlight.



At Guinness, you learn the normal facts of any beer tour, but a couple stuck out to me:

1. Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease with a yearly rent of 45 pounds. This may be the greatest example of long term planning in history.
2. Guinness brews different versions of its beer for different regions of the world. For example, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is sold in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia, but not the United States and Canada. This strategy is similar to ones taken by many international firms.
3. All the Guinness drunk in the United States is brewed in Dublin.

The third point is the most interesting to me because it is astonishing that all Guinness is imported!

So let’s take a look at the shipments of beer from Ireland with our U.S. import database, TradeIQ.

Important facts:

• Year to date, shipments containing the word ‘Beer’ from Ireland were over 1,800 TEUs and 22,000 Metric Tons.
• Imports of Irish beer in 2010 are expected to grow slightly over 2009, but down from a high in 2008 of over 3,500 TEUs.
• The top 3 U.S. ports in 2010 for Irish beer are New York/Newark, Savannah, and Los Angeles.

Click here to learn more about beer imports and exports to the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its Merchandise Trade data numbers on August 11th for June 2010. The Merchandise Trade balance increased 54.1% over last June and 22.9% from the previous month. Imports grew by 8.4% from May and gained 33.0% over last year, while exports rose 1.4% from the previous month and increased 23.2% over June 2009.

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 June's data; here are the highlights:

1. How shipments arrive indicates new trade trends
2. Extreme temperatures may lead to gains in U.S. wheat exports
3. Air exports show the seasonality of trade
4. Impact of Obama’s signing law to suspend some import duties
5. Evolving Harmonized System doesn’t react fast enough to new technologies
   

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

On August 9th, we completed the data for July in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ. With a 0.19% decrease in total shipments during the month, July ends the trend of increasing import shipments witnessed in the previous five months. Though this July's numbers failed to overtake June, we can still see a 15.52% increase over July of the previous year, indicating that 2010 import activity is rebounding from its weak numbers in 2009.

Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:

As evidenced in the chart above, shipments from Asia decreased slightly from June, but grew 19.19% over July 2009. A look at July shipments from Asia in previous years shows us that July 2009 shipments marked a significant low time and July 2010 is a return to the strong numbers seen in July 2007 and 2008.

Below is a graph of Asia's historical July shipments, starting with July 2005:

 

The collection methods used by U.S. Customs for AMS data can lead to an overstatement of shipments for some ports, as imports and exports from Prince Rupert and Vancouver are often recorded as imports for the U.S. Moreover, the data includes shipments from empty containers, may overstate totals from transshipments, and may contain other data anomalies as well.

Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This indicator is the earliest data available for the previous month’s trade activity.