Monthly Trade Highlights

August 2012 Highlights

This page shows the Balance, Exports and Imports for the current month and prior month, along with the percent change and dollar change between the two. The last column of the table shows the last time the percent change (or dollar change) was larger. Some interesting facts about this month's International Trade in Goods and Services report can be found at the bottom of the page.

Goods and Services on a Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis, seasonally adjusted - series began with August 1992 statistics.

All Values in billions of dollars

Percent Change from Prior Month

	August 2012 (Billions of $)	July 2012 (Billions of $)	Percent Change from Prior Month	Last time the Increase/Decrease in Percent Change was larger/When it Occured
Goods and Services
Balance	-$44.2	-$42.5	4.1%	16.0% from February 2012 to March 2012
Exports	$181.3	$183.2	-1.0%	-1.1% from June 2012 to July 2012
Imports	$225.5	$225.7	-0.1%	-0.6% from June 2012 to July 2012
Goods (BOP Basis)
Balance	-$59.3	-$57.8	2.6%	12.4% from February 2012 to March 2012
Exports	$128.5	$130.7	-1.6%	-2.6% from May 2011 to June 2011
Imports	$187.8	$188.5	-0.3%	-0.9% from June 2012 to July 2012

 

Dollar Change From Prior Month

	August 2012 (Billions of $)	July 2012 (Billions of $)	Dollar Change From Prior Month	Last time the Increase/Decrease in Dollar Change was larger/When it Occured
Goods and Services
Balance	-$44.2	-$42.5	-$1.8	-$7.1 from February 2012 to March 2012
Exports	$181.3	$183.2	-$1.9	-$2.0 from June 2012 to July 2012
Imports	$225.5	$225.7	-$0.2	-$1.4 from June 2012 to July 2012
Goods (BOP Basis)
Balance	-$59.3	-$57.8	-$1.5	-$7.5 from May 2012 to July 2012
Exports	$128.5	$130.7	-$2.1	-$3.2 from May 2011 to June 2011
Imports	$187.8	$188.5	-$0.7	-$1.7 from June 2012 to July 2012

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• August exports of services ($52.8 billion) and imports of services ($37.7 billion) were the highest on record.
• In August, imports of goods ($187.8 billion) decreased for the fifth consecutive month.

Goods on a Census Basis (seasonally adjusted)

Exports

• August exports of capital goods ($44.5 billion) were the second highest on record; the highest occurred March 2012 ($44.6 billion).
• August exports of industrial supplies ($39.0 billion) were the lowest since February 2011 ($38.6 billion).

Country and other highlights (Census Basis, not seasonally adjusted)

• The August deficit with Germany ($5.7 billion) was the highest on record.
• August exports to Japan ($6.3 billion) were the highest since March 1996 ($6.4 billion).
• August exports to Colombia ($1.4 billion) were the highest on record.
• August exports to Mexico ($19.2 billion) were the highest on record.
• August exports to India ($2.1 billion) were the highest on record.