US chemical shippers saw a rare decline in export volumes during 2021 as the lack of railcars and the imports inundating ports.
Trade Data
Trade Data
The World Trade Organization provides authoritative data about global trade, trade policy, and related economic issues. Its databases and publications provide access to data on trade flows, tariffs, non-tariff measures (NTMs) and trade in value added.
Data on annual trade in merchandise are available in the WTO's Data Portal https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm and its International Trade and Market Access Data pages, an interactive tool. That data includes exports and imports, broken down by commodity group and by selected economies/regions. https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_bis_e.htm
Other sources of trade data include the UN Comtrade Database https://comtrade.un.org/, IMF Data (https://www.imf.org/en/Data, Eurostat (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/euro-indicators/international-trade), and various national sources. Where needed, reported data are complemented by estimations produced by the WTO.
Annual WTO data are updated in April and October of each year. This includes total values and data broken down by economies and selected regional and economic groupings. The October update also includes data broken down by commodity groups/regions. Trade data are also measured by numerous organizations, including the US Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division, at https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/index.html.
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News & Analysis
20 May 2022
Like most importers, toy makers struggled to get the ocean vessel capacity they needed in 2021 while also dealing with multiple COVID-19 lockdowns in China, where 89.7 percent of all US toy imports are sourced.
17 May 2022
US importers of fresh produce have an increasing array of options for bringing in refrigerated containers as ports across the US Southeast and Gulf Coasts add more cold chain capacity.
08 Dec 2021
An effort by the US Federal Maritime Commission to facilitate data sharing in supply chains needs to be global in nature and focused around resolving data conflicts between carriers and terminals, experts said.
07 Jun 2021
There is a lot of uncertainty among apparel and footwear importers about how tariffs, port congestion, equipment shortages, and the future of the US workplace will impact their supply chains in 2021.
04 Jun 2021
Growth in US toy imports reached the highest point in three years during 2020 and should remain strong throughout 2021, according to industry demand data and sales projections from leading manufacturers.
03 Jun 2021
High consumer demand for electronics drove many US importers back to China in 2020, but alternative markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Mexico are still growing as well.
02 Jun 2021
Imports of personal protective equipment increased 25.4 percent last year as demand for masks, gloves, and gowns surged during several waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, although carriers and forwarders say last year’s frantic pace is slowing down thanks to vaccinations.
01 Jun 2021
US resin exports continued to grow strongly in 2020 and shippers say exports could have been even higher if it were not for rising domestic demand and production problems.
31 May 2021
The demand for US alcoholic beverages grew strongly through the 2020 lockdowns, and that trend is expected to continue through this year as bars and restaurants reopen.
31 May 2021
Exports of recyclables, a key backhaul commodity for container lines, could decline again this year due to global COVID-19 issues, especially in India.
28 May 2021
Food shippers and their logistics providers expect consumers to continue shopping online for groceries and cooking more at home even after COVID-19 vaccinations allow a return to restaurants and other dining venues.
25 May 2021
Exports of paper and forest products fell by double-digit percentages in 2020 and volumes could further slide in 2021 because of China’s tougher environmental stances on recovered paper from the US.
24 May 2021
US consumers haven’t finished remodeling homes yet, and high demand is drawing more imports from China and Southeast Asia.
20 May 2021
Imports of photovoltaic cells used in solar power generation continue to reach new highs as the US developers plan to make major capacity additions over the next four years.
20 May 2021
Despite duties in China, vessel space limitations at US ports and equipment shortages at inland rail hubs, US containerized agricultural shipments increased seven percent in 2020.
18 May 2021
The surprise upswing in demand that began in the second half of 2020 and has kept building in 2021 has overwhelmed the US container shipping system and further shifted pricing power toward carriers.
04 Feb 2021
Under pressure from an unexpected second-half surge in demand, US importers turned to core production sources in China as the urgency of not missing orders outweighed additional tariff and manufacturing costs.
25 May 2020
Walmart remained atop the list of the 100 largest US importers by a wide margin in 2019, while Koch Industries retained to the No. 1 export spot.
02 Apr 2020
Singapore-based carrier ONE plans to roll out globally an electronic bill of lading through its customer portal starting in the second quarter of 2020.
23 Mar 2020
Growth in trade between the United States and Europe decelerated only slightly in 2019, even as antagonism over tariffs, taxes, and subsidies on both sides of the Atlantic deepened.
12 Nov 2019
The Port of Los Angeles anticipates a very soft fourth quarter due to US tariffs on Chinese imports, which a new report said threatens 1.5 million US jobs and more than $186 billion in economic activity.
23 Sep 2019
Key feeders into the US trucking industry such as manufacturing, petrochemicals, construction, and autos are struggling to match the robust activity of last year, but that doesn't mean a recession is around the corner.
19 Aug 2019
Carrier market share in the trans-Pacific is not expected to change much in the next few months, in part because carriers will manage capacity by blanking individual sailings and deploying extra-loader vessels to handle import surges.
14 Jun 2019
US agriculture exporters should brace themselves for a prolonged trade war that will continue to erode their share of the all-important China market because China won’t budge on certain demands, and Trump’s self-image is inflated by being tough on China.
11 Jun 2019
The Maersk subsidiary line will begin a weekly service connecting Port Everglades to the Dominican Republic and Haiti in July, adding to the nearly 1 million TEU the port already handles from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
10 Jun 2019
Transportation shifts continue to remain top of mind in the apparel industry as fashions change quickly and customized items, personalized to the individual, become more popular.
07 Jun 2019
Global Port Tracker forecasts slight increases in US imports this peak season, but not the 10-15 percent year-over-year decline predicted by Sea-Intelligence and Drewry.
07 Jun 2019
The world’s largest container carrier is expecting continued growth in India despite a broad-based economic slowdown caused by declining consumer spending growth, geopolitical trade tensions, and financial volatility.
07 Jun 2019
China’s increasingly hardline stance against accepting recyclable waste from US exporters has created a volatile market for the paper and forest products industry in recent years.
03 Jun 2019
With uncertainty surrounding US-Mexico relations, including threats of border shutdowns, tariffs and a Congressional showdown the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA-NAFTA 2), shippers are expressing more interest in all-water options to bypass any congestion on the border.
03 Jun 2019
China has supplied nearly two-thirds of containerized US household goods imports for several years, but increased tariffs are likely to curtail volumes.
31 May 2019
Exports of containerized scrap products from the US have declined every year since 2014, bad news for ports and shipping lines that depend upon recyclables as reliable backhaul commodities.
31 May 2019
The US-China trade war is keeping shippers on edge, and will likely cause further shifts in the JOC.com annual Top 100 US Importers and Exporters rankings in 2019.
30 May 2019
Walmart remained atop the list of the largest US importers by volume last year and is nearing the 1 million-TEU mark, moving more than 7.3 times the volume of online retail giant Amazon, which came in at No. 12.
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Commentary
The paradox of the global scrap trade