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BEA Press Release
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, February 2015
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $35.4 billion in February, down $7.2 billion from $42.7 billion in January, revised. February exports were $186.2 billion, $3.0 billion less than January exports. February imports were $221.7 billion, $10.2 billion less than January imports.
The February decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $7.4 billion to $55.2 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.1 billion to $19.7 billion.
Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit decreased $2.6 billion, or 3.2 percent, from the same period in 2014. Exports decreased $5.3 billion or 1.4 percent. Imports decreased $7.9 billion or 1.7 percent.
Goods and Services Three-Month Moving Averages (Exhibit 2)
The average goods and services deficit decreased $1.4 billion to $41.2 billion for the three months ending in February.
- Average exports of goods and services decreased $3.5 billion to $190.2 billion in February.
- Average imports of goods and services decreased $4.9 billion to $231.4 billion in February.
Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit increased $1.9 billion from the three months ending in February 2014.
- Average exports of goods and services decreased $1.0 billion from February 2014.
- Average imports of goods and services increased $0.8 billion from February 2014.
Exports (Exhibits 3, 6, and 7)
Exports of goods decreased $2.9 billion to $125.6 billion in February.
Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $2.9 billion.
- Capital goods decreased $1.7 billion.
o Civilian aircraft decreased $0.6 billion.
o Semiconductors decreased $0.3 billion. - Industrial supplies and materials decreased $1.4 billion.
o Nonmonetary gold decreased $0.5 billion.
Net balance of payments adjustments decreased less than $0.1 billion.
Exports of services decreased $0.1 billion to $60.6 billion in February. The decrease was more than accounted for by decreases in transport ($0.2 billion), which includes freight and port services and passenger fares, and in financial services ($0.1 billion). Increases in other business services ($0.1 billion) and in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.1 billion) were partly offsetting.
Imports (Exhibits 4, 6, and 8)
Imports of goods decreased $10.3 billion to $180.8 billion in February.
Imports of goods on a Census basis decreased $10.3 billion.
- Industrial supplies and materials decreased $4.4 billion.
o Crude oil decreased $2.3 billion. - Capital goods decreased $2.6 billion.
o Other industrial machines decreased $0.6 billion.
Net balance of payments adjustments increased $0.1 billion.
Imports of services increased less than $0.1 billion to $40.9 billion in February. An increase in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.1 billion) was mostly offset by a decrease in transport ($0.1 billion).
Real Goods in 2009 Dollars – Census Basis (Exhibit 11)
The real goods deficit decreased $3.8 billion to $50.8 billion in February.
- Real exports of goods decreased $2.8 billion to $117.5 billion.
- Real imports of goods decreased $6.6 billion to $168.2 billion.
Revisions
Revisions to January exports
- Exports of goods were revised downward $0.2 billion.
- Exports of services were revised downward less than $0.1 billion.
- Revisions to January imports
- Imports of goods were revised upward $0.7 billion.
- Imports of services were revised upward less than $0.1 billion.
Goods by Selected Countries and Areas: Monthly – Census Basis (Exhibit 19)
The February figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with South and Central America ($3.6), Brazil ($0.8), and OPEC ($0.3). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($27.3), European Union ($11.0), Germany ($6.3), Mexico ($4.5), Japan ($4.3), Italy ($2.5), South Korea ($2.2), India ($2.0), France ($1.6), Canada ($1.4), United Kingdom ($0.5), and Saudi Arabia ($0.4).
- The deficit with Japan decreased $2.2 billion to $4.3 billion in February. Exports increased $0.1 billion to $5.4 billion and imports decreased $2.1 billion to $9.7 billion.
- The deficit with China decreased $2.0 billion to $27.3 billion in February. Exports decreased $1.5 billion to $9.0 billion and imports decreased $3.5 billion to $36.3 billion.
- The balance with OPEC countries shifted from a deficit of $1.2 billion to a surplus of $0.3 billion in February. Exports increased $0.3 billion to $6.4 billion and imports decreased $1.3 billion to $6.0 billion.
NOTES:
- All statistics referenced are seasonally adjusted; statistics are on a balance of payments basis unless otherwise specified. Additional statistics, including not seasonally adjusted statistics and details for goods on a Census basis, are available in Exhibits 1-20b of this release. For information on data sources, definitions, and scheduled release dates through December 2015, see the information section on page A-1 of this release. The next release is May 5, 2015.
- For definitions of goods on a balance of payments basis, goods on a Census basis, and net balance of payments adjustments, see the information section on page A-1 of this release.
NOTICE
New Report on U.S. International Trade in Goods
On July 30, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., the U.S. Census Bureau will introduce a new release, "Advance Report: U.S. International Trade in Goods." This report will:
- Be released monthly, 4-7 business days in advance of the "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services" report (FT-900).
- Present advance statistics for the reference month. For example, the July 30 release will feature advance statistics for June 2015.
- Contain statistics for international trade in goods on a Census basis by principal end-use category.
- Include both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted statistics.
- Not include statistics for trade in goods on a balance of payments basis or statistics for trade in services, both of which will continue to be featured in the FT-900.
- Be available at www.census.gov/trade.
In accordance with Section 7 of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 3, OMB granted the Census Bureau an exception to the previously approved schedule for the release of the FT-900. OMB granted the exception for the sole purpose of publicly releasing advance monthly statistics on trade in goods.
The new report will present two sets of statistics: "Advance" statistics, which reflect partial coverage, and "Final" statistics, which reflect complete coverage and correspond to the most recently published statistics in Exhibits 6 and 13 of the FT-900. Sample exhibits of the new report are available at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/notices/20150405_advrelease.html.
The release schedule for this report through December 2015 is as follows:
Statistical Month - Date - Day
June - 07-30-15 - Thu
July - 08-28-15 - Fri
August - 09-29-15 - Tue
September - 10-28-15 - Wed
October - 11-24-15 - Tue
November - 12-29-15 - Tue
If you have questions, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Indicators Division, on (800) 549-0595, option 4, on (301) 763-2311, or at eid.international.trade.data@census.gov.
Upcoming Revisions to Goods and Services
On June 3, 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: April 2015" and "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Annual Revision for 2014." With these releases, statistics on trade in goods, on both a Census basis and a balance of payments (BOP) basis, will be revised beginning with 2012, and statistics on trade in services will be revised beginning with 1999. The revised statistics for goods on a BOP basis and for services will also be included in the report "U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2015 and Annual Revisions" and in the annual revision of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITAs), both to be released by BEA on June 18, 2015.
Goods
Revised statistics on trade in goods will reflect
- corrections and adjustments to previously published not-seasonally-adjusted statistics for goods on a Census basis,
- recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments, and
- newly available and revised source data on BOP adjustments, which are adjustments that BEA applies to goods on a Census basis to convert them to a BOP basis. BOP adjustments are presented as net adjustments in this release.
Services
Revised statistics on trade in services beginning with 1999 will reflect the reclassification of repairs related to Foreign Military Sales from exports of government goods and services n.i.e. (not included elsewhere) to exports of maintenance and repair services n.i.e. This reclassification will result in more accurate international account statistics and will bring BEA's statistics into closer alignment with international guidelines, which recommend that services supplied by and to governments be classified to a specific services category where possible.
Revised statistics on trade in services beginning with 2012 will also reflect 1) newly available and revised source data primarily from BEA's surveys of international services transactions, 2) revised seasonal adjustments, and 3) revised interpolations of quarterly source data to monthly statistics (see the information section on page A-4 of this release).
Additional information on BEA's 2015 annual revision of the ITAs will be presented in the April 2015 issue of the Survey of Current Business, which BEA will release in mid-April. If you have questions, please contact BEA's Balance of Payments Division at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov.
To learn more about the FT-900 and other economic indicators the Census Bureau publishes, join the Economic Indicators Division for the "Investigating Economic Indicators" Webinar series.
For more information, visit www.census.gov/econ/webinar.
