Number range CHAPTERSeminar Questions

Session 1 - Understanding Foreign Trade Data (Commodity Analysis Branch)

Question 1: Is Guam part of U.S. Territory?

**A:** Yes, U.S. territories refers to those listed in Schedule C,
Classification of Country and Territory Designations for U.S. Foreign
Trade Statistics, the Schedule C is available at

<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/c/countrycode.html#9>

Although part of the U.S. territory, Guam is not part of the U.S.
Customs Territory. According to General Note 2 of the HTSUSA the term
"customs territory of the United States" includes only the 50 states,
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. For statistical purposes,
however, the Census Bureau includes foreign trade zones and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, as well as the entire U.S. Customs Territory as part of
the United States. (That is trade between foreign countries and the
Virgin Islands will be reflected in the imports and export statistics,
trade between the United States and the Virgin Islands will not.)

**Question 2: What is meant by non-statistical?**

**A:** Non-statistical (or non-stat) items are not included in the
published statistics. According to the *Guide to Foreign Trade
Statistics (* <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/guide/index.html>)
the following list are examples of types of transactions that are
excluded from the merchandise trade balance:

1.  United States trade with U.S. possessions, trade between U.S.
    possessions, and trade between U.S. possessions and foreign
    countries (except Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

2.  Merchandise shipped in-transit under bond through the United States
    from one foreign country to another.

3.  Shipments to the U.S. Armed Forces, including post exchanges, for
    their own use, as well as U.S. merchandise returned by the U.S.
    Armed Forces for their own use.

4.  Monetary gold and silver.

5.  Issued monetary coins (in current circulation) of all component
    metals.

6.  Bunker fuels and other supplies and equipment for use on departing
    vessels, planes, or other carriers engaged in foreign trade.

7.  Shipments of furniture, equipment and supplies to U.S. government
    agencies as well as such merchandise when returned to the United
    States.

8.  Imports of articles repaired under warranty.

9.  Some other transactions not considered to be of statistical
    importance, such as shipments of personal and household effects of
    travelers and certain temporary exports and imports.

**Question 3: Does the Census Bureau have statistics on trade with
Puerto Rico?**

**A:** Yes. Statistics are separately published covering shipments 1)
between the United States and Puerto Rico, 2) between the United States
(including Puerto Rico) and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 3) from other
U.S. possessions to the United States. U.S. possessions refer to those
listed in Schedule C, Classification of Country and Territory
Designations for U.S. Foreign Trade Statistics.

The annual report *U.S. Trade with Puerto Rico and U.S. Possessions* is
available on our website at
<http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/ftdpr895.html>

**Question 4: Are personal shipments included in the "Related vs.
Non-related" statistics?**

**A:** No, personal items are non-statistical. The statistics on related
party trade provides statistics on transactions where one party controls
6 percent or more (imports) or 10 percent or more (exports) of the other
party to the transaction.

**Question 5: Does the Census Bureau collect data if a shipment comes
into a bonded warehouse and goes out as a foreign export?**

**A:** Yes, when the shipment is entered into the warehouse it is
included in General Imports. If the goods were re-exported without being
changed, they would be included in the export statistics as foreign
exports. Normally, foreign exports (also known as re-exports) are simply
included in total exports. However, domestic vs. foreign exports are
broken out separately in several FT 900 exhibits. Data on foreign
exports may also be obtained from our Trade Data office on 301.763.2311.

**Question 6: How does the Census Bureau handle imports for export
entries?**

**A: There are several categories that could be considered "imports for
export."** In most cases, if the import is expected to be temporary we
would not include it in our statistics. Goods of U.S. origin or foreign
goods previously entered into the United States that are returned for
repair and return, are not included in statistics, however, when
exported the value of the alteration or repair would be included in the
export statistics.

Items temporarily imported under bond (entry type 23) classified in
HTSUSA number 9813.00.0520 (temporary imports of articles to be
repaired, altered or processed) are included in our statistics, however.
As recommended in the U.N. statistical guidelines, these goods are
included in both General Imports and Imports for Consumption at the time
of entry. When reexported, they are reported as exports. This ensures
that the value added in the United States appears in the balance of
payments and national accounts.

**Question 7: Does the Automated Commercial System (ACS) cover 100% of
entries?**

**A:** No, ACS does not capture entries when the importer elects to file
a paper form or FTZ admission or if the transaction is of a type that
cannot be reported via ACS.

**Question 8: Are there manual entries that do not make it into ACS?**

**A:** Yes, paper and FTZ entries are not currently included in ACS.

**Question 9: Does the Census Bureau collect services data?**

**A:** No, that information is available from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (<http://www.bea.gov/>)

Session 2 - ACS and Automated Export System (AES) Raw Data Versus Census
Statistics (Methods Research and Quality Assurance Branch)

**Questions 10: Why do imports have two exemption levels?**

**A:** The existence of an exemption level is established by law, and
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency establishes them by
regulation. The current exemption levels are \$2,000 and \$250. The
exemption level of \$250 typically has typically been used for quota
items and other sensitive commodities.

Question 11: Does export data for Canada include transshipments through
Canada to Europe?

**A:** U.S. goods exported to Europe through Canadian ports should be
reported as U.S. exports to Europe, and be shown as such in the trade
statistics.

**Question 12: What is the range of discrepancy for correction data?**

**A:** Overall, the level of revisions is very small. Total value for
the year typically changes by only a tenth of a percent. For an
individual transaction, in contrast the difference between original data
and correction data can be large. A filer could mistakenly report an HTS
number in the value field, e.g., \$9,897,964,321; and then report a
correction value of \$10,000.

Question 13: What methodology does the Census Bureau use for imputing
the Foreign Port code?

**A:** If the shipment value is less than \$500,000, the Census Bureau
uses the foreign port with the largest value in trade for the country
reported by the filer. Transactions valued over \$500,000 that are
missing a foreign port are resolved by an analyst. Please note, however,
that due to online edits on data reported electronically, very few
records are now received without a valid foreign port code.

Session 3 - The United States -- Canada Data Exchange (Process
Coordination Staff)

Question 14: Does the Census Bureau collect data on oil and gas that
comes through a pipeline?

**A:** Yes, the Census Bureau does collect data on oil and gas that
comes through a pipeline. For imports, we receive data on pipeline
shipments of oil and gas from CBP. **For imports of natural gas from
Canada, the data received from CBP is replaced with information provided
by Statistics Canada.** For exports, data on pipeline shipments of oil
and gas are reported through either our Automated Export System (AES) or
from the Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) filed by the exporter.

Session 4 - Goods, Tariffs, and Country of Origin (Special Projects
Branch)

**Question 15: Can bonds be longer than 30 days?**

**A:** According to information from the CBP website, if an importer
wished to extend the 30 days period for having his merchandise clear the
country, he may file for a continuous bond before the 30 days ends. A
continuous bond stays in effect until U.S. Customs is informed in
writing to cancel it. They renew automatically every year, but an annual
premium must be paid. The cost of the continuous bond is determined by
the value of the shipment: \$10.00 per \$1,000 of the value plus a
filing fee of \$50.00. To be eligible for a continuous bond, the cargo
must be valued at \$50,000, as determined by U.S. Customs.

**Question 16: How often do non-bonded transactions occur?**

**A:** (This question relates to the section of the presentation
describing how, particularly for imports from Canada, goods that are
merely transiting the United States (such as Canadian overland shipments
to Mexico) may either be shipped under bond (in which case they do not
appear in U.S. statistics) or they may be entered as U.S. imports and
reexported upon their departure.) There is no way to identify these
shipments in our statistics, so we cannot provide an estimate. Anecdotal
evidence indicates that the practice of entering the goods, rather than
shipping under bond, is fairly common. There is no tariff on eighty
percent of the goods in the HTSUSA (for Canadian goods, there is neither
tariff nor merchandise processing fee). Entering the goods also allows
them to avoid the administrative difficulties (i.e. red tape) of
securing a bond from U.S. Customs.

**Question 17: How often do shipments occur where country of shipment
does not match 'country of origin'?**

**A:** At the total level, most trade shows the same country of shipment
and country of origin. However, the practice of shipping goods from
something other than the country of origin Number range CHAPTERvaries
greatly by product area and partner country. For example, many goods of
Chinese origin are exported from Hong Kong. Likewise some product areas,
such as semiconductors, exhibit significant higher levels of "indirect
trade," than others.

Session 5 - Transportation and Port Data (Methods Research and Quality
Assurance Branch)

**Question 18: What is the District of Entry?**

**A:** It is the district where goods are entered under an entry or
released under an immediate delivery permit.

**Question 19: What is the difference between Port of Unlading and
District of Entry?**

**A:** The district of entry is the district where goods are entered
under an entry or released under an immediate delivery permit. The port
of unlading is where the goods are unladen from the importing vessel or
aircraft.

**Question 20: Are there statistics for shipments not allowed in the
country? If so, where are they?**

**A:** The Census Bureau receives information only on shipments released
or admitted by CBP. CBP has some information (such as seizures) on its
web site.

Session 6 - State Data (Special Projects Branch)

**Question 21: Number range CHAPTERWho would be the user of this
information since it does not show the production origin of the goods?**

**A:** The state data series was originated at the request of people
interested in how goods are transported. Thus, the state of origin of
movement, while not exact due to the practice of consolidation or
shipping from a non-company warehouse fit their need. The data are also
used by bNumber range CHAPTERusinesses and state governments. In
addition, analysts in the private and public sectors examining monthly
trends in exports for specific states, distribution of exports per
state, use trade totals as the response variable in econometric
modeling.

**Question 22: Is Census only collecting and disseminating data from the
states of origin of movements?**

**A:** Yes. We have revised our regulations to specify that exporters
should use the location from which the goods began their shipment to the
point of exportation as their exporter address (previously, we left it
to the company as to which address to report). We will begin making
tabulations based upon the exporters' ZIP codes available effective with
January 2006 statistics and hope to introduce more detailed information
(such as by metropolitan area), by the end of the year.

**Question 23: How do you determine the state of origin?**

**A:** We collect the 2-character postal abbreviation for the state from
which the shipment started its journey to the port of export on the
Automated Export System and Shipper's Export Declaration. We also
collect the exporter's name and address from which we extract the ZIP
code for use in compiling more detailed statistics, such as the planned
metropolitan area series.

Question 24: Can you find out from the state of origin data where the
product is transshipped?

**A:** No. If a shipment goes from one location to another (such as from
a warehouse in Delaware) to an intermediate location where the goods are
put onto the carrier that will take them to the port of export (in, say,
Maryland), the company is supposed to report the state where they began
their journey to the port of export (in this case, Delaware). If,
however, the goods were consolidated in Maryland, with goods from
several locations put together into a single shipment, the filer is
supposed to report the location from which the highest value of goods
originated. And, if goods from Delaware (and other locations) were
warehoused in Maryland, then exported through New York, Maryland would
be the state of origin of movement.

**Questions 25: How much commodity detail is present in the OM state?**

**A:** On exhibit 2, in the FT-900 Supplement, the state trade data is
mainly broken down into manufactured and non-manufactured commodities
based on NAICS product codes.

Other data products contain more detail. On a monthly basis, the World
Trade Atlas presents data by 6-digit HS code by country of destination.
There is a subscription fee for this product. Annual data by 1) state by
country and 2) state by commodity (top 25 6-digit Schedule B codes only)
are available free on our web site.
<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/index.html>

Session 7 - Exporter Profile (Special Projects Branch)

**Question 26: How often is this data taken?**

**A:** The Exporter Profile is an annual publication.

**Question 27: How do you define small, medium, or large sized export
companies?**

**A:** We define company size by the number of employees.

Small 0-99 employees

Medium 100-499 employees

Large 500 or more employees

**Question 28: How is this data aggregated?**

**A:** The data is received throughout the data year through the
Automated Export System (AES), the Canadian Data Exchange, and
Shipper\'s Export Declarations (SED). Once all of the export records are
received for an entire data year, we match the export records to the
data year\'s Business Register. After the matching, we create tables
detailing exports by company size, company type, export countries, and
other detailed breakdowns.

Special tabulations are available upon request for a fee.

**Question 29: Is there a match by the type of firm and the type of
product produced?**

**A:** We currently publish tables based on company types, but not by
the types of products produced.

**Question 30: Is this data released as a press release or pdf
publication?**

**A:** This data is released as a pdf publication which is available on
our website. You can find it at the following address:

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.html#profile

**Question 31: How do you come up with your universe of exporters?**

A: We attempt to match all of the export records to the Business
Register. The Business Register contains company ownership information
(that is, which Employer Identification Numbers belong to the same
parent company). By linking all of the export records to the Business
Register, we are able to determine the number of unique companies that
export. Note that this number may be understated due to the inability to
match some export records.

# Session 8 - Quality Issues (Methods Research and Quality Assurance Branch)

Question 32: Are shipping containers included in statistics?

**A:** The Tariff Act of 1930 (19 USC 1322 (a) defines U.S. Customs and
Border Protection designates such items as lift vans, cargo vans,
shipping tanks, pallets and certain articles used to ship goods
internationally as *instruments of international traffic.* So long as
this designation applies, these articles are not subject to entry or
duty when they arrive, whether they are loaded or empty. Instruments of
international traffic are excluded from statistics under the United
Nations guidelines for merchandise trade statistics
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/methodology.htm).

Question 33: Is the misreporting/misclassification of commodities a
quality issue?

**A:** The misreporting or misclassification of commodities is a quality
issue because filers do not always find the proper classification. Both
CBP and the Census Bureau work to detect and correct as many of these
cases as possible through data edits and review and by contacting the
filers, when necessary. However, data users should take the possibility
of misclassification into account (perhaps by looking at other, similar
products) when analyzing the trade data.

Question 34: Do you work with Customs to try and improve quality issues
with data?

**A:** Yes, for example, we participate in coverage surveys to identify
when statistical documentation was not filed. We also work closely with
customs to develop and implement electronic data reporting systems, such
as AES and ACE, that improve our ability to detect reporting errors and
send messages immediately back to filers for correction.

Question 35: How do you know how to pinpoint the issues?

**A:** We identify potential quality issues in several ways. One is
through our analysis of the data. Investigation into unusual patterns in
the data may uncover a data quality issue. We also receive requests for
investigations from private industry and other government agencies that
likewise may uncover data quality issues. And we keep up with articles
in the trade press and participate in trade seminars to identify issues
with the potential to affect our statistics.

Question 36: How do you know that people are not deliberately reporting
a lower value to avoid paying a higher tariff?

**A:** It is difficult to identify deliberate undervaluation. We edit
transaction values for reasonability and perform various checks on
values summarized by company, filer, commodity code and other
aggregations to detect possible errors. CBP also conducts compliance
checks that may detect or deter undervaluation. But, to a large extent,
as with any other data collection effort, we depend upon filers to
report correctly.

Question 37: What is the difference between the CIF Value and the
Customs Value, and what effect does that have on charges?

**A:** CIF Value represents the landed value at the first port of
arrival and is the "Import Charges" plus "Customs Value". The "Import
Charges" is the insurance, freight and other charges associated with a
shipment. CIF value does not include U.S. Import Duties. The Customs
Value is the value of the import as appraised by the U.S. Customs
Service and is the price actually paid or payable for the merchandise,
excluding U.S. import duties, freight, insurance, and other charges.
Import charges are not affected by the difference in these two values.
The difference between the two is that CIF Value includes the Import
Charges and the Customs Value does not.

**Session 9 - Overview, Website, DVD, and USA Trade Online** (Data
Dissemination Branch)

**Question 38: Can we compare Customs data with this core data?**

**A:** Yes, if you keep the differences between the two data sets in
mind. Foreign Trade data goes through several edit processes that
Customs data does not. In addition, the CBP data you may have access to
through the portal includes all entry types. Users should not expect the
two sets of data to match exactly. However, the Census Bureau rarely
changes the reported values for imports, so if the values are off by
much and there are no obviously wrong values, there could be a problem
in the analysis, such as inclusion of overlapping entry type codes.

**Question 39: How much are the DVD's that you produce?**

**A:** Single issue: \$150\
Quarterly subscription (4 issues): \$500\
Annual subscription (12 issues): \$1,200

U.S. Imports History, or U.S. Exports History: \$150. This DVD is free
to subscribers.

**Question 40: Is the Business Register on your website?**

**A:** No, the business register is confidential and not available to
the public.

**Question 41: How do you access exporter profiler information?**

**A:** Through the U.S. Profile of Exporting Companies available on the
Foreign Trade Division website
(<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.html#profile>)

**Question 42: Why isn't port data on the DVD?**

**A:** The DVD contains data at the 10-digit HS level. For disclosure
purposes, we do not release port data at the 10-digit level.

**Question 43: Is there anything on the DVD that defines what the
specific fields are?**

**A:** There are several text files on the DVDs in the "Document" folder
which contain data definitions and other documentation. Specifically,
the files FL-IMP.ASC (on the import DVD) and FL_EXP.ASC (on the export
DVD) contain data structures and definitions for each file on the DVD.

**Question 44: Can other programs besides Microsoft Access access the
information on the DVD?**

**A:** Data files on the DVD are in dBase format, which should be
compatible with almost any spreadsheet or database software.

**Question 45: Is company information visible on USA Trade Online?**

**A:** No, there is no company information available on USA Trade Online
(or any other Foreign Trade Division data product.)

**Question 46: Are you able to sort the downloaded data on the website
(ascending/descending)?**

**A:** Yes, data in USA Trade Online can be sorted on any column.

**Question 47: Do other agencies have access to this website or is there
a fee?**

Agencies outside of the Census Bureau and International Trade
Administration will need to purchase access to USA Trade Online for a
nominal fee. Call the Data Dissemination Branch on 301-763-2311 for more
information.

Employees of the International Trade Administration have access through
DOC Insider. For ITA employees outside of the U.S. Foreign and
Commercial Service, some set-up may be required. Call x1986 or x3429,
for assistance.

**Question 48: Can you pull the HS number by NAICS grouping?**

**A:** USA Trade Online uses HS classification only. Users would need to
use the concordance files to convert to NAICS
(<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/reference/codes/index.html#concordance>)

**Question 49: How does the data on this site differ from World Trade
Atlas (WTA) data?**

**A:** GTIS purchases data from the Foreign Trade Division for use in
their World Trade Atlas applications.

**Question 50: How can I access USA Trade Online or the DVDs?**

**A:** USA Trade Online is available at
[www.usatradeonline.gov](http://www.usatradeonline.gov/). DVDs can be
purchased through the Census Bureau's Marketing Services office (click
the "Catalog" link on [www.census.gov](http://www.census.gov/) or call
301-763-INFO) USA Trade Online and all DVDs should also be available at
all Federal Depository Libraries.

**Question 51: Is the second unit of quantity available on the DVD?**

**A:** Yes, second unit of quantity is on the DVD. It is not on USA
Trade Online.

**Question 52: Why is the value of imports for consumption for some
codes consistently larger than the value of general imports?**

**A:** The primary cause of this relates to the use of Foreign Trade
Zones. When goods are withdrawn from a zone, the importer has the option
to enter them either at the duty rate (and classification) that applied
when they were admitted into the zone or the rate that applies when
withdrawn FTD staff examined some of the product areas identified by the
person who raised this question. They found that, imports for
consumption is greater than for general import because of changes that
occur within a zone. For example, in chapter 25, the difference came
from two 10-digit numbers (HTS 2503.00.0010 & 2503.00.0090) that are
by-products of petroleum processing. In order for this to occur, the
goods are admitted into the FTZ as \"non-privileged,\" which means that
when withdrawn for consumption they are classified (and assessed duty)
based upon the commodity that exits the zone. So, the goods would be
reflected in General Imports based upon their classification (in Chapter
27) when they entered the zone and would be reflected in Imports for
Consumption (under Chapter 25). These discrepancies resulting from zone
operations can occur within a chapter or can cross chapters as in the
example above.

**Questions after the Seminar**

**Question 53: I am looking to reconcile differences between data
extracted from ACE and the Census data. It seems that the monthly totals
are off\--but the differences are very similar from one month to the
next (e.g. the data in the SIMA database for steel is higher for one
month and then Census is roughly higher for the next). Could this be a
function of the statistical month and data being held over to the next
month?**

**A:** Your \"expected date of import\" may correspond more nearly to
our \"date of import\" than our \"date of release\" (DOR). The data of
release defines the statistical month for that record. A May DOR record
goes into May statistics, unless it arrives too late in our processing
cycle; if late, it will go into June statistics. We call late records
carryover. At the end of the year, for our annual revision, we move all
carryover records back to their correct statistical month.