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BTS 1-08
Contact: Dave Smallen, Tel.: 202-366-5568
Monday, January 7, 2008

  BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for October:
Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Reached a Monthly Record High in October 2007
 (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 11.1 percent higher in October 2007 than in October 2006, reaching $74.2 billion, the highest monthly level ever recorded, 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 North American surface trade in October topped the previous monthly high of $69.8 billion in March 2007 by 6.4 percent. 

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 11.2 percent in October from September (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 October was up 49.6 percent compared to October 2002, and up 87.1 percent compared to October 1997, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in October were up 100.7 percent compared to October 1997, while exports were up 72.0 percent.   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

 U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $47.7 billion in October, up 14.1 percent compared to October 2006 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 6.1 percent higher in October 2007 than October 2006, while the value of exports carried by truck was 17.8 percent higher. 

            Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in October with $7.6 billion (Table 5).  

 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $26.6 billion in October, up 6.0 percent compared to October 2006 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 10.6 percent higher in October 2007 than October 2006 while the value of exports carried by truck was 3.1 percent higher.      

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in October with $8.2 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.  October TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of Dec. 13.   

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 November TransBorder numbers on Jan. 31.

 

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

74,249

4.5

11.1

November

62,894

64,805

 

3.0

 

December

59,104

59,049

 

-0.1

 

Year-to-date

575,989

636,273

666,049

10.5

4.7

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

 

October

2006

September

2007

October

2007

Percent Change     Sept. 2007 – Oct. 2007

Percent Change October

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

37,943

 

37,574

 

41,974

 

11.7%

 

10.6%

 

Exports

28,902

 

29,197

 

32,275

 

10.5%

 

11.7%

 

Total

66,846

 

66,771

 

74,249

 

11.2%

 

11.1%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

25,010

 

23,977

 

27,065

 

12.9%

 

8.2%

 

Exports

22,530

 

22,524

 

25,310

 

12.4%

 

12.3%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

7,328

 

8,299

 

8,199

 

-1.2%

 

11.9%

 

Exports

3,550

 

3,990

 

4,169

 

4.5%

 

17.4%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,392

 

4,125

 

5,130

 

24.4%

 

16.8%

 

Exports

257

 

391

 

151

 

-61.3%

 

-41.1%

 

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. October 2007 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with October of Prior Years

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to October in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2006

10.6

 

11.7

 

11.1

 

2005

12.8

 

20.5

 

16.0

 

2004

28.8

 

32.9

 

30.5

 

2003

40.6

 

43.4

 

41.8

 

2002

48.9

 

50.4

 

49.6

 

2001

56.7

 

54.8

 

55.8

 

2000

43.3

 

44.0

 

43.6

 

1999

67.3

 

57.5

 

62.9

 

1998

84.1

 

72.1

 

78.7

 

1997

100.7

 

72.0

 

87.1

 

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

 

October

2006

September

2007

October

2007

Percent Change     Sept. 2007 – Oct. 2007

Percent Change October

2006-2007

 

All Surface Modes

Imports

23,685

 

23,300

 

26,309

 

12.9%

 

11.1%

 

Exports

18,100

 

19,354

 

21,375

 

10.4%

 

18.1%

 

Total

41,785

 

42,654

 

47,684

 

11.8%

 

14.1%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

13,383

 

12,610

 

14,206

 

12.7%

 

6.1%

 

Exports

14,165

 

14,961

 

16,683

 

11.5%

 

17.8%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

4,943

 

5,702

 

5,698

 

-0.1%

 

15.3%

 

Exports

1,977

 

2,278

 

2,368

 

3.9%

 

19.7%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,381

 

4,113

 

5,117

 

24.4%

 

16.8%

 

Exports

199

 

325

 

108

 

-66.7%

 

-45.6%

 

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 October 2007 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

October 2007

1

Michigan

7,568

 

2

Illinois

3,707

 

3

California

3,195

 

4

New York

3,124

 

5

Ohio

3,116

 

6

Texas

2,260

 

7

Washington

1,851

 

8

Pennsylvania

1,754

 

9

Indiana

1,651

 

10

Tennessee

1,385

 

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

 

October

2006

September

2007

October

2007

Percent Change     Sept. 2007 – Oct. 2007

Percent Change October

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

14,258

 

14,274

 

15,665

 

9.7

 

9.9

 

Exports

10,802

 

9,843

 

10,901

 

10.7

 

0.9

 

Total

25,061

 

24,118

 

26,565

 

10.1

 

6.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

11,626

 

11,367

 

12,859

 

13.1

 

10.6

 

Exports

8,364

 

7,563

 

8,626

 

14.1

 

3.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

2,385

 

2,597

 

2,501

 

-3.7

 

4.9

 

Exports

1,573

 

1,712

 

1,802

 

5.3

 

14.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

12

 

12

 

13

 

9.1

 

5.5

 

Exports

58

 

67

 

43

 

-35.0

 

-25.8

 

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 October 2007 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

October 2007

1

Texas

8,241

 

2

California

4,850

 

3

Michigan

2,830

 

4

Illinois

928

 

5

Arizona

838

 

6

Ohio

663

 

7

Tennessee

586

 

8

Pennsylvania

486

 

9

North Carolina

484

 

10

New York

454

 

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


 

 

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