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BTS 55-07
Contact:  Dave Smallen, Tel.:  (202) 366-5568
Thursday, November 29, 2007

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for September:
September Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 5.5 Percent from
September 2006
 (State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)
 

            Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 5.5 percent higher in September 2007 than in September 2006, reaching $66.8 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).  

            BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico fell 3.5 percent in September from August (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.   

            Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline.  About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land. 

            The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in September was up 45.8 percent compared to September 2002, and up 78.4 percent compared to September 1997, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in September were up 88.8 percent compared to September 1997, while exports were up 66.6 percent.   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

 U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $42.7 billion in September, up 5.6 percent compared to September 2006 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 0.5 percent lower in September 2007 than September 2006, while the value of exports carried by truck was 8.5 percent higher. 

            Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in September with $6.6 billion (Table 5).  

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S. – Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $24.1 billion in September, up 5.4 percent compared to September 2006 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 5.6 percent higher in September 2007 than September 2006 while the value of exports carried by truck was 0.8 percent lower.        

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in September with $7.5 billion (Table 7).    

The TransBorder Freight Data are a unique subset of official U.S. foreign trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau.  New data are tabulated monthly and historical data are not adjusted for inflation.  September TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of Nov. 9.   

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov.  More information on TransBorder Freight Data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/.  BTS will release October TransBorder numbers on Jan. 7, 2008.

 

Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico

(millions of dollars)

Month

2005

2006

2007

Percent Change      2005-2006

Percent Change      2006-2007

January

52,334

61,189

60,649

16.9

-0.9

February

53,592

59,804

59,667

11.6

-0.2

March

59,436

68,213

69,768

14.8

2.3

April

58,297

61,742

65,015

5.9

5.3

May

57,870

65,994

69,423

14.0

5.2

June

59,431

66,898

69,526

12.6

3.9

July

49,690

55,939

61,823

12.6

10.5

August

60,188

66,354

69,158

    10.2

4.2

September

61,166

63,295

66,771

3.5

5.5

October

63,985

66,846

 

4.5

 

November

62,894

64,805

 

3.0

 

December

59,104

59,049

 

-0.1

 

Year-to-date

512,004

569,427

591,799

11.2

3.9

Annual

697,987

 760,127

 

 8.9

 

 

                Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

                     Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

 

 

Table 2. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada and Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

September

2006

August

2007

September

2007

Percent Change     Aug. 2007 – Sept. 2007

Percent Change September

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

36,232

 

39,356

 

37,574

 

-4.5

 

3.7

 

Exports

27,063

 

29,802

 

29,197

 

-2.0

 

7.9

 

Total

63,295

 

69,158

 

66,771

 

-3.5

 

5.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

23,439

 

24,681

 

23,977

 

-2.9

 

2.3

 

Exports

21,410

 

23,377

 

22,524

 

-3.6

 

5.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

7,131

 

8,419

 

8,299

 

-1.4

 

16.4

 

Exports

3,297

 

3,663

 

3,990

 

8.9

 

21.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,192

 

4,733

 

4,125

 

-12.9

 

-1.6

 

Exports

195

 

189

 

391

 

106.7

 

100.2

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. September 2007 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with September of Prior Years

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to September in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2006

3.7

 

7.9

 

5.5

 

2005

5.9

 

13.7

 

9.2

 

2004

19.4

 

24.5

 

21.6

 

2003

33.7

 

40.6

 

36.6

 

2002

43.5

 

49.0

 

45.8

 

2001

53.5

 

62.2

 

57.2

 

2000

34.2

 

37.9

 

35.8

 

1999

55.0

 

52.6

 

54.0

 

1998

74.9

 

64.0

 

70.0

 

1997

88.8

 

66.6

 

78.4

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 


 

 

Table 4. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

September

2006

August

2007

September

2007

Percent Change     Aug. 2007 – Sept. 2007

Percent Change September

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

22,916

 

24,029

 

23,300

 

-3.0

 

1.7

 

Exports

17,488

 

19,049

 

19,354

 

1.6

 

10.7

 

Total

40,404

 

43,078

 

42,654

 

-1.0

 

5.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

12,674

 

12,255

 

12,610

 

2.9

 

-0.5

 

Exports

13,789

 

14,809

 

14,961

 

1.0

 

8.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

4,832

 

5,801

 

5,702

 

-1.7

 

18.0

 

Exports

1,885

 

2,019

 

2,278

 

12.8

 

20.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,180

 

4,722

 

4,113

 

-12.9

 

-1.6

 

Exports

140

 

139

 

325

 

134.0

 

132.6

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by September 2007 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

September 2007

1

Michigan

6,620

 

2

Illinois

3,274

 

3

New York

2,973

 

4

Ohio

2,728

 

5

California

2,642

 

6

Texas

2,178

 

7

Pennsylvania

1,547

 

8

Indiana

1,460

 

9

Washington

1,447

 

10

Tennessee

1,308

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 

 


 

 

Table 6. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

September

2006

August

2007

September

2007

Percent Change     Aug. 2007 – Sept. 2007

Percent Change September

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

13,316

 

15,326

 

14,274

 

-6.9

 

7.2

 

Exports

9,574

 

10,753

 

9,843

 

-8.5

 

2.8

 

Total

22,890

 

26,079

 

24,118

 

-7.5

 

5.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

10,765

 

12,426

 

11,367

 

-8.5

 

5.6

 

Exports

7,621

 

8,568

 

7,563

 

-11.7

 

-0.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

2,299

 

2,618

 

2,597

 

-0.8

 

13.0

 

Exports

1,412

 

1,643

 

1,712

 

4.1

 

21.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

12

 

12

 

12

 

-0.1

 

-4.4

 

Exports

56

 

51

 

67

 

31.7

 

19.2

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by September 2007 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

September 2007

1

Texas

7,451

 

2

California

4,071

 

3

Michigan

2,922

 

4

Illinois

808

 

5

Arizona

656

 

6

Ohio

585

 

7

Tennessee

516

 

8

North Carolina

482

 

9

Pennsylvania

437

 

10

New York

409

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/


 

 

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