BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for December 2007:

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for December 2007:
Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 3.1 Percent from
December 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 3.1 percent higher in December 2007 than in December 2006, reaching $60.9 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 fell 13.4 percent in December from November (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 December was up 49.3 percent compared to December 2002, and up 73.5 percent compared to December 1997, a period of 10 years (Table 3). Imports in December were up 82.0 percent compared to December 1997, while exports were up 63.6 percent.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $39.6 billion in December, up 3.7 percent compared to December 2006 (Table 4). The value of imports carried by truck was 6.7 percent lower in December 2007 than December 2006, while the value of exports carried by truck was 5.0 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in December with $5.7 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $21.3 billion in December, up 2.1 percent compared to December 2006 (Table 6). The value of imports carried by truck was 6.9 percent higher in December 2007 than December 2006 while the value of exports carried by truck was 3.3 percent lower.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December with $6.5 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. December TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of Feb. 14.

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 annual TransBorder numbers on March 11 and January TransBorder numbers on March 31.

Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Transportation 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	70,352	3.0	8.6
December	59,104	59,049	60,902	-0.1	3.1
Annual	697,987	760,127	797,303	8.9	4.9

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

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

Table 2. U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico by Mode of Transportation
(millions of dollars)
Mode		December 2006	November 2007	December 2007	Percent Change Nov. 2007 – Dec. 2007	Percent Change December 2006-2007
All Surface Modes	Imports	33,910	39,660	34,497	-13.0	1.7
	Exports	25,139	30,693	26,405	-14.0	5.0
	Total	59,049	70,352	60,902	-13.4	3.1

Truck	Imports	21,009	25,293	20,892	-17.4	-0.6
Truck	Exports	19,360	23,734	19,775	-16.7	2.1

Rail	Imports	7,680	8,210	7,137	-13.1	-7.1
Rail	Exports	3,385	4,278	3,836	-10.3	13.3

Pipeline	Imports	3,988	4,684	5,116	9.2	28.3
Pipeline	Exports	327	259	466	80.1	42.6
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 3. December 2007 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with December of Prior Years
	Percent Change
Compared to December in…	Imports	Exports	Total Surface Trade
2006	1.7	5.0	3.1
2005	-0.1	7.4	3.0
2004	16.3	17.9	17.0
2003	33.0	35.5	34.1
2002	46.2	53.6	49.3
2001	58.3	60.5	59.2
2000	34.6	37.9	36.1
1999	47.6	36.0	42.3
1998	69.3	57.2	63.8
1997	82.0	63.6	73.5
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

December

2006

November

2007

December

2007

Percent Change Nov. 2007 – Dec. 2007

Percent Change December

2006-2007

All Surface Modes

Imports

21,748

24,798

21,903

-11.7

0.7

Exports

16,439

20,405

17,707

-13.2

7.7

Total

38,187

45,204

39,610

-12.4

3.7

Truck

Imports

11,465

13,090

10,694

-18.3

-6.7

Exports

12,672

15,939

13,312

-16.5

5.0

Rail

Imports

5,314

5,898

5,060

-14.2

-4.8

Exports

1,924

2,341

2,296

-1.9

19.4

Pipeline

Imports

3,978

4,668

5,099

9.2

28.2

Exports

259

179

277

54.7

7.3

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 December 2007 Surface Trade Value
(millions of dollars)
Rank	State	December 2007
1	Michigan	5,664
2	Illinois	3,398
3	Ohio	2,520
4	New York	2,437
5	California	2,341
6	Texas	2,035
7	Washington	1,678
8	Pennsylvania	1,594
9	Minnesota	1,372
10	Indiana	1,121
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		December 2006	November 2007	December 2007	Percent Change Nov. 2007 – Dec. 2007	Percent Change December 2006-2007
All Surface Modes	Imports	12,162	14,861	12,593	-15.3	3.5
	Exports	8,700	10,287	8,698	-15.4	-0.0
	Total	20,862	25,149	21,292	-15.3	2.1

Truck	Imports	9,544	12,203	10,198	-16.4	6.9
Truck	Exports	6,687	7,795	6,463	-17.1	-3.3

Rail	Imports	2,366	2,312	2,077	-10.2	-12.2
Rail	Exports	1,461	1,937	1,540	-20.5	5.4

Pipeline	Imports	10	16	17	7.1	78.7
Pipeline	Exports	68	80	189	137.4	176.2
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 December 2007 Surface Trade Value
(millions of dollars)
Rank	State	December 2007
1	Texas	6,503
2	California	3,756
3	Michigan	2,188
4	Illinois	770
5	Arizona	770
6	Ohio	553
7	Tennessee	519
8	North Carolina	447
9	Pennsylvania	376
10	New York	327
Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/