INFORMATION ON GOODS AND SERVICES

# Goods

## Census Basis

The Census basis goods data are compiled from the documents collected by
the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and reflect the movement of goods
between foreign countries and the 50 states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. Foreign Trade Zones. They
include government and non-government shipments of goods, and exclude
shipments between the United States and its territories and possessions,
transactions with U.S. military, diplomatic and consular installations
abroad, U.S. goods returned to the United States by its Armed Forces,
personal and household effects of travelers, and in-transit shipments.
The General Imports value reflects the total arrival of merchandise from
foreign countries that immediately enters consumption channels,
warehouses, or Foreign Trade Zones.

For imports, the value reported is the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection appraised value of merchandise; generally, the price paid for
merchandise for export to the United States. Import duties, freight,
insurance, and other charges incurred in bringing merchandise to the
United States are excluded.

Exports are valued at the f.a.s.- free alongside ship value of
merchandise at the U.S. port of export, based on the transaction price
including inland freight, insurance, and other charges incurred in
placing the merchandise alongside the carrier at the U.S. port of
exportation.

Monthly data include actual month\'s transactions as well as a small
number of transactions for previous months. Each month we revise the
aggregate seasonally adjusted (current and chain-weighted dollar) and
unadjusted export, import and trade balance figures, as well as the
end-use totals for the prior month. SITC and country detail data are not
revised monthly. The timing adjustment shown in Exhibit 14 is the
difference between monthly data as originally reported and as
recompiled. Quarterly revisions are made to the chain-weighted dollar
series. In the last month of each quarter, the current and previous
quarter are revised to incorporate the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
monthly revisions and align Census and the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis' quarterly data. Annual revisions for the months are made in
June to reflect corrections received subsequent to the monthly
revisions. These revisions are reflected in totals, end-use, SITC, and
country summary data. The monthly end-use, commodity, and country area
data presented in this release are on a Census basis. This refers to
Exhibits 6 - 18.

###  *U.S./CANADA DATA EXCHANGE AND SUBSTITUTION*

The data for U.S. exports to Canada are derived from import data
compiled by Canada. The use of Canada\'s import data to produce U.S.
export data requires several alignments in order to compare the two
series.

1.  *Coverage* \-- Canadian imports are based on country of origin. U.S.
    goods shipped from a third country are included. U.S. exports
    exclude these foreign shipments. For July 2008, these shipments
    totaled \$83.9 million. U.S. export coverage also excludes certain
    Canadian postal shipments. For July 2008, these shipments totaled
    \$23.8 million.

U.S. import coverage includes shipments of railcars and locomotives from
Canada. Effective with January 2004 statistics, Canada excludes these
shipments from its goods exports to the United States, therefore
creating coverage differences between the two countries for these goods.

2.  *Valuation* \-- Canadian imports are valued at the point of origin
    in the United States. However, U.S. exports are valued at the port
    of exit in the United States and include inland freight charges,
    making the U.S. export value slightly larger. Canada requires inland
    freight to be reported. Inland freight charges for July 2008
    accounted for 2.4 percent of the value of U.S. exports to Canada.

3.  *Reexports* \-- U.S. exports include reexports of foreign goods.
    Again, the aggregate U.S. export figure is slightly larger. For July
    2008, reexports to Canada were \$3,218.1 million.

4.  *Exchange Rate* \-- Average monthly exchange rates are applied to
    convert the published data to U.S. currency. For July 2008, the
    average exchange rate was 1.0130 Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar.

5.  *Other* \-- There are other minor differences, which are
    statistically insignificant, such as rounding error.

###  

### Canadian Estimates

Effective with January 2001 statistics, the current month data for
exports to Canada contain an estimate for late arrivals and corrections.
The following month, this estimate is replaced, in the press release
tables only, with the actual value of late receipts and corrections.
This estimate improves the current month data for exports to Canada and
treats late receipts for exports to Canada in a manner more consistent
with the treatment of late receipts for exports to other countries.

### *Nonsampling errors*

The goods data are a complete enumeration of documents collected by the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and are not subject to sampling
errors; but they are subject to several types of nonsampling errors.
Quality assurance procedures are performed at every stage of collection,
processing and tabulation; however the data are still subject to several
types of nonsampling errors. The most significant of these include
reporting errors, undocumented shipments, timeliness, data capture
errors, and errors in the estimation of low-valued transactions.

**Reporting Errors**: Reporting errors are mistakes or omissions made by
importers, exporters or their agents in their import or export
declarations. Most errors involve missing or invalid commodity
classification codes and missing or incorrect quantities or shipping
weights. They have a negligible effect on import, export and balance of
trade statistics. However, they can affect the detailed commodity
statistics.

**Undocumented Shipments**: Federal regulations require importers,
exporters or their agents to report all merchandise shipments above
established exemption levels. The U.S. Census Bureau has determined that
not all required documents are filed, particularly for exports.

**Timeliness and Data Capture Errors**: The U.S. Census Bureau captures
import and export information from administrative documents and through
various automated collection programs. Documents may be lost, and data
may be incorrectly keyed, coded or recorded. Transactions may be
included in a subsequent month's statistics if received late.

**Low-valued Transactions**: The total values of transactions valued as
much as or below \$2,500 for exports and \$2,000 (\$250 for certain
quota items) for imports are estimated for each country, using factors
based on the ratios of low-valued shipments to individual country totals
for past periods.

The U.S. Census Bureau recommends that data users incorporate this
information into their analyses, as nonsampling errors could impact the
conclusion drawn from the results. For a detailed discussion of errors
affecting the goods data, see "U.S. Merchandise Trade Statistics: A
Quality Profile" available on the internet at
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.html#infopapers or from the
Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

###  *AREA GROUPINGS* (See Exhibits 14 and 14A)

**North America** - Canada, Mexico

**Europe** - Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbijan, Belarus,
Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany,
Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo,
Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia,
Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Svalbard-Jan Mayen Island, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan,
Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vatican City.

**European Union** - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

**Euro Area** - Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal,
Slovenia, Spain.

**Pacific Rim** - Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, Macao, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan.

**South/Central America** - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina,
Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands,
French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras,
Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands,
Uruguay, Venezuela.

**OPEC** - Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,
Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela.

**Africa** - Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, British Indian Ocean
Territories, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African
Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa),
Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, French Southern
and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory
Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger,
Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, St. Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland,
Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

### *Adjustments for Seasonal and Working-Day Variations*

Goods are initially classified under the Harmonized System (HS) which
describes and measures the characteristics of goods traded. Combining
trade into approximately 140 export and 140 import end-use categories
makes it possible to examine goods according to their principal uses
(See Exhibits 7 and 8). These categories are used as the basis for
computing the seasonal and working-day adjusted data. These adjusted
data are then summed to the six end-use aggregates for publication
(Exhibit 6). These data are provided to the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis, from the U.S. Census Bureau, for use in the Balance of
Payments and the National Income and Product Accounts.

The seasonal adjustment procedure is based on a model that estimates the
monthly movements as percentages above or below the general level of
each end-use commodity series (unlike other methods that redistribute
the actual series values over the calendar year). Because of the
extremely variable movements of the data series for aircraft, users
studying data trends may wish to analyze aircraft separately from other
trade.

### *Adjustments for Price Change*

Data adjusted for seasonal variation on a chained-dollar basis (2000
base year) are presented in Exhibits 10 and 11. This adjustment for
price change is done using the Fisher chain-weighted methodology. The
deflators are primarily based upon the monthly price indexes published
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics using techniques developed for the
National Income and Product Accounts by the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis.

### *SITC Data*

Goods data appearing in Exhibit 15 are classified in terms of the
Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) Revision 3.
Agricultural goods consist of non-marine food products and other
products of agriculture which have not passed through complex processes
of manufacture, such as raw hides and skins, fats and oils, and wine. A
few goods such as essential oils, starches, casein, and albumin,
considered to be agricultural by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
have been excluded from agricultural goods and are included in
manufactured goods where they are classified in the SITC.

Manufactured goods conform to the SITC sections that include chemicals
and related products; manufactured goods classified chiefly by material;
machinery and transport equipment; miscellaneous manufactured articles;
and goods and transactions not classified elsewhere.

Reexports are foreign merchandise entering the country as imports, and
at the time of exportation are in substantially the same condition as
when imported. Reexports, included in overall export totals, appear as
separate line items in Exhibit 15.

###  *Advanced Technology Products (ATP)*

About 500 of some 22,000 commodity classification codes used in
reporting U.S. merchandise trade are identified as \"advanced
technology\" codes and they meet the following criteria:

1.  The code contains products whose technology is from a recognized
    high technology field (e.g., biotechnology).

2.  These products represent leading edge technology in that field.

3.  Such products constitute a significant part of all items covered in
    the selected classification code.

The aggregation of the goods results in a measure of advanced technology
trade which appears in Exhibits 16 and 16A. This product and
commodity-based measure of advanced technology differs from broader
NAICS industry-based measures which include all goods produced by a
particular industry group, regardless of the level of technology
embodied in the goods.

## Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis

Goods on a Census basis are adjusted by the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis to goods on a BOP basis to bring the data in line with the
concepts and definitions used to prepare the international and national
accounts. Broadly, the adjustments include changes in ownership that
occur without goods passing into or out of the customs territory of the
United States. These adjustments are necessary to supplement coverage of
the Census basis data, to eliminate duplication of transactions recorded
elsewhere in the international accounts, and to value transactions
according to a standard definition.

The export adjustments include:

> **U.S. military sales contracts** - This *deduction* of U.S. military
> sales contracts is made because the U.S. Census Bureau has included
> these contracts in the goods data, but BEA includes them in the
> service category \"Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts.\"
> BEA\'s source material for these contracts is more comprehensive, but
> has no distinction between goods and services.
>
> **Private gift parcels** - This *addition* is made for parcels mailed
> to foreigners by individuals through the U.S. Postal Service. (Only
> commercial shipments are covered in Census goods exports.)
>
> **Gold exports, nonmonetary** - This *addition* is made for gold that
> is purchased by foreign official agencies from private dealers in the
> United States and held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The
> Census data only include gold that leaves the customs territory.

Some smaller adjustments are also made to exports:

> *Deductions* for repairs of goods, developed motion picture film, and
> military grant-aid. *Additions* for sales of fish in U.S. territorial
> waters, exports of electricity to Mexico, and vessels and oil rigs
> that change ownership for which no export document is filed.

The import adjustments include:

> **Inland freight in Canada** - An *addition* is made for inland
> freight in Canada. Imports of goods from all countries are valued at
> the foreign port of export, including inland freight charges ("customs
> value"). In the case of Canada, this should be the cost of the goods
> at the U.S. border. However, the customs value for imports for certain
> Canadian goods is the point of origin in Canada. The BEA makes an
> *addition* for the inland freight charges of transporting these
> Canadian goods to the U.S. border to make the value comparable to the
> customs value as reported by all other countries. Insurance and
> freight charges for transporting goods to the United States from all
> other countries to the U.S. border are included in services by the
> BEA. (The same procedure is used for Mexico as an Other Adjustment,
> but is much smaller.)
>
> **Gold imports, nonmonetary** - This *addition* is made for gold sold
> by foreign official agencies to private purchasers out of stock held
> at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Census data only include
> gold that enters the customs territory.
>
> **Imports by U.S. military agencies** - This *deduction* of U.S.
> military sales contracts is made because the U.S. Census Bureau has
> included these contracts in the goods data, but BEA includes them in
> the service category \"Direct Defense Expenditures.\" BEA\'s source
> material is more comprehensive, but has no distinction between goods
> and services.

Some smaller adjustments are also made to imports:

> *Deductions* for repairs of goods and developed motion picture film.
> *Additions* for imported electricity from Mexico, conversion of
> vessels for commercial use, repairs to U.S. vessels abroad, and
> valuation of prepackaged software imports at market value.

# SERVICES

The statistics are estimates of services transactions between foreign
countries and the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories and possessions.
Transactions with U.S. military, diplomatic, and consular installations
abroad are excluded because they are considered to be part of the U.S.
economy.

Services are shown in seven broad categories. Types of services for
imports and exports are the same for six of the seven categories. For
the seventh, exports is \"Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales
Contracts\" while for imports the category

is \"Direct Defense Expenditures.\" The following is a brief description
of the types of services included in each category:

> **Travel** - Purchases of services and goods by U.S. travelers abroad
> and by foreign visitors to the United States. A traveler is defined as
> a person who stays for a period of less than 1 year in a country of
> which the person is not a resident. Includes expenditures for food,
> lodging, recreation, gifts, and other items incidental to a foreign
> visit.
>
> **Passenger Fares** - Fares paid by residents of one country to
> residents of other countries. Receipts consist of fares received by
> U.S. carriers from foreign residents for travel between the United
> States and foreign countries and between two foreign points. Payments
> consist of fares paid by U.S. residents to foreign carriers for travel
> between the United States and foreign countries.
>
> **Other Transportation** - Charges for the transportation of goods by
> ocean, air, waterway, pipeline, and rail carriers to and from the
> United States. Includes freight charges, operating expenses that
> transportation companies incur in foreign ports, and payments for
> vessel charter and aircraft rentals with crew.
>
> **Royalties and License Fees** - Transactions with affiliated and
> unaffiliated foreign residents. (The term "affiliated" refers to a
> direct investment relationship, which exists when a U.S. person has
> ownership or control, directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of
> a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent,
> or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S. enterprise.)
> Transactions involve intangible assets and proprietary rights such as
> the use of patents, techniques, processes, formulas, designs,
> know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and manufacturing
> rights. The term \"royalties\" generally refers to payments for the
> utilization of copyrights or trademarks, and the term \"license fees\"
> generally refers to payments for the use of patents or industrial
> processes.
>
> **Other Private Services** - Transactions with affiliated and
> unaffiliated foreign residents. (The term "affiliated" refers to a
> direct investment relationship, which exists when a U.S. person has
> ownership or control, directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of
> a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent,
> or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S. enterprise.)
> Transactions consist of education services; financial services
> (includes commissions and other transactions fees associated with the
> purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income of banks, and
> excludes investment income); insurance services; telecommunications
> services (includes transmission services and value-added services);
> and business, professional, and technical services. Included in the
> last group are advertising services; computer and data processing
> services; database and other information services; research,
> development, and testing services;
>
> management, consulting, and public relations services; legal services;
> construction, engineering, architectural, and mining services;
> industrial engineering services; installation, maintenance, and repair
> of equipment; and other services, including medical services and film
> and tape rentals.
>
> **Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts** (*Exports only*) -
> Exports of goods and services in which U.S. Government military
> agencies participate. Includes both goods, such as equipment, and
> services, such as repair services and training, that cannot be
> separately identified.
>
> **Direct Defense Expenditures** (*Imports only*) - Expenditures
> incurred by U.S. military agencies abroad, including expenditures by
> U.S. personnel, payments of wages to foreign residents, construction
> expenditures, payments for foreign contractual services, and
> procurement of foreign goods. Includes both goods and services that
> cannot be separately identified.
>
> **U.S. Government Miscellaneous Services** - Transactions of U.S.
> Government nonmilitary agencies with foreign residents. Most of these
> transactions involve the provision of services to, or purchases of
> services from, foreigners; transfers of some goods are also included.

Services estimates are based on quarterly, annual, and benchmark surveys
and partial information generated from monthly reports. Service
transactions are estimated at market prices. Estimates are seasonally
adjusted when statistically significant seasonal patterns are present.
No country or area detail is available due to the lack of adequate
source data upon which to base estimates.

**The revision policy is as follows:** Each month, a preliminary
estimate for the current month and a revised estimate for the
immediately preceding month are released. After a revised month is
released, no further changes are made to that month until more complete
source data become available in March, June, September, and December.
The releases in March, June, September, and December contain revised
data for the previous six months. The release in March also contains
revisions for all months of the previous year in order to align the
seasonally adjusted monthly data with annual totals. The release in June
contains annual revisions, which reflect updated source data and changes
in estimating methodologies.

  ------------- -------------------------- ------------------------------
  **Monthly                                
  Release                                  
  Schedule**                               

  **Month**     **Date**                   **Day**

                                           

  Jan           03-11-08                   Tuesday

  Feb           04-10-08                   Thursday

  Mar           05-09-08                   Friday

  Apr           06-10-08                   Tuesday

  May           07-11-08                   Friday

  Jun           08-12-08                   Tuesday

  Jul           09-11-08                   Thursday

  Aug           10-10-08                   Friday

  Sep           11-13-08                   Thursday

  Oct           12-11-08                   Thursday
  ------------- -------------------------- ------------------------------

Quarterly and annual estimates of services are included as part of the
U.S. international transactions accounts, published in the January,
April, July, and October issues of the [Survey of Current
Business]{.underline}. The next release of the U.S. international
transactions accounts is scheduled for September 17, 2008. The
[Survey]{.underline} is available from the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, or online at

www.bea.gov/scb/index.htm.

**ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY**

The FT-900 and supplement are available on the following:

**INTERNET** The U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services reports
are available at: www.census.gov/ft900 or
www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/tradnewsrelease.htm.

**STAT-USA** The U.S. Department of Commerce\'s electronic information
facility. Call 1 800 STAT-USA for product information.

Additional data and information on goods are obtainable from: **Foreign
Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, D.C. 20233**

Additional data and information on services are obtainable from:
**Balance of Payments Division, U.S. Bureau** **of** **Economic
Analysis, Washington, D.C. 20230**