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BTS 15-08
Monday, March 31, 2008
Contact:  Dave Smallen, Tel. : (202) 366-5568

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for January 2008:

Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 7.4 Percent from

January 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 7.4 percent higher in January 2008 than in January 2007, reaching $65.2 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).  

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 7.0 percent in January from December (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 January was up 48.9 percent compared to January 2003, and up 89.2 percent compared to January 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in January were up 99.7 percent compared to January 1998, while exports were up 77.2 percent.   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

 U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $42.0 billion in January, up 8.6 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 1.7 percent lower in January 2008 than January 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 11.0 percent higher. 

            Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in January with $5.3 billion (Table 5).    

 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $23.1 billion in January, up 5.4 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 3.7 percent higher in January 2008 than January 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.9 percent higher.            

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in January 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.  January TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of March 11.   

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 February TransBorder numbers on April 30.

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Month

2006

2007

2008

Percent Change      2006-2007

Percent Change      2007-2008

January

61,189

60,649

65,160

-0.9

7.4

February

59,804

59,667

 

-0.2

 

March

68,213

69,768

 

2.3

 

April

61,742

65,015

 

5.3

 

May

65,994

69,423

 

5.2

 

June

66,898

69,526

 

3.9

 

July

55,939

61,823

 

10.5

 

August

66,354

69,158

 

4.2

 

September

63,295

66,771

 

5.5

 

October

66,846

74,249

 

11.1

 

November

64,805

70,352

 

8.6

 

December

59,049

60,902

 

3.1

 

Annual

 760,127

797,303

 

4.9

 

 

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

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior to      rounding.

 


 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

January

2007

December

2007

January

2008

Percent Change     Dec. 2007 – Jan.  2008

Percent Change January

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

35,009

 

34,497

 

36,648

 

6.2

 

4.7

 

Exports

25,640

 

26,405

 

28,512

 

8.0

 

11.2

 

Total

60,649

 

60,902

 

65,160

 

7.0

 

7.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

22,308

 

20,892

 

22,495

 

7.7

 

0.8

 

Exports

20,288

 

19,775

 

21,887

 

10.7

 

7.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

6,864

 

7,137

 

6,630

 

-7.1

 

-3.4

 

Exports

3,034

 

3,836

 

3,827

 

-0.2

 

26.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,298

 

5,116

 

6,006

 

17.4

 

39.7

 

Exports

295

 

466

 

418

 

-10.3

 

41.8

 

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

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.   Percent changes based on numbers prior 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. January 2008 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with January of Prior Years

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to January in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2007

4.7

 

11.2

 

7.4

 

2006

1.7

 

13.4

 

6.5

 

2005

21.8

 

28.2

 

24.5

 

2004

39.1

 

47.4

 

42.6

 

2003

45.2

 

54.0

 

48.9

 

2002

54.5

 

62.0

 

57.7

 

2001

36.2

 

46.8

 

40.7

 

2000

50.3

 

52.5

 

51.3

 

1999

81.3

 

79.8

 

80.6

 

1998

99.7

 

77.2

 

89.2

 

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

 

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

January

2007

December

2007

January

2008

Percent Change     Dec. 2007 – Jan.  2008

Percent Change January

2007-2008

 

All Surface Modes

Imports

22,660

 

21,903

 

23,752

 

8.4

 

4.8

 

Exports

16,065

 

17,707

 

18,290

 

3.3

 

13.9

 

Total

38,725

 

39,610

 

42,043

 

6.1

 

8.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

11,785

 

10,694

 

11,584

 

8.3

 

-1.7

 

Exports

12,547

 

13,312

 

13,922

 

4.6

 

11.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

5,322

 

5,060

 

4,947

 

-2.2

 

-7.1

 

Exports

1,724

 

2,296

 

2,069

 

-9.9

 

20.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,288

 

5,099

 

5,984

 

17.4

 

39.5

 

Exports

216

 

277

 

353

 

27.3

 

63.3

 

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

 

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior 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 January 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

January 2008

1

Michigan

5,329

 

2

Illinois

4,013

 

3

Ohio

2,856

 

4

New York

2,669

 

5

California

2,353

 

6

Texas

2,124

 

7

Washington

1,910

 

8

Pennsylvania

1,767

 

9

Minnesota

1,452

 

10

Indiana

1,279

 

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

 

 

                       

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

January

2007

December

2007

January

2008

Percent Change     Dec. 2007 – Jan.  2008

Percent Change January

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

12,349

 

12,593

 

12,895

 

2.4

 

4.4

 

Exports

9,576

 

8,698

 

10,222

 

17.5

 

6.7

 

Total

21,924

 

21,292

 

23,117

 

8.6

 

5.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

10,523

 

10,198

 

10,911

 

7.0

 

3.7

 

Exports

7,741

 

6,463

 

7,965

 

23.2

 

2.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

1,541

 

2,077

 

1,683

 

-19.0

 

9.2

 

Exports

1,310

 

1,540

 

1,757

 

14.1

 

34.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

10

 

17

 

22

 

27.6

 

131.8

 

Exports

79

 

189

 

65

 

-65.4

 

-17.2

 

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

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior 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 January 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

January 2008

1

Texas

7,519

 

2

California

3,890

 

3

Michigan

2,184

 

4

Arizona

991

 

5

Illinois

771

 

6

Ohio

615

 

7

Tennessee

480

 

8

North Carolina

475

 

9

Pennsylvania

402

 

10

New York

366

 

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


 

 

-end-

 


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