


                          United States Department of
                                 COMMERCE NEWS
                            Washington, D.C. 20230

                                    ECONOMICS
                                       AND
                                   STATISTICS
                                 ADMINISTRATION
                                  ------------
                              Bureau of the Census
                           Bureau of Economic Analysis
                                
                                                                                                                      
                                                                                        
                                                                                        
                                                                                       
                                
This release contains sensitive economic
data not to be released before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday,
March 20, 2001                                                 
                                
CB-01-48 Press Copy 
FT-900 (01-01) For information on goods contact:
Bureau of the Census:
Haydn R. Mearkle  (301) 457-2246 
Nick Orsini       (301) 457-2311

For information on services contact:
Bureau of Economic Analysis:
Technical:  Christopher Bach (202) 606-9545
Media:      Ralph Morris     (202) 606-2649

          U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES
                           January 2001

Goods and Services

The Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the
Department of Commerce, announced today that total January exports of $89.7
billion and imports of $122.9 billion resulted in a goods and services
deficit of $33.3 billion, $0.1 billion more than the $33.2 billion in
December, revised.  January exports were $0.4 billion more than December
exports of $89.2 billion.  January imports were $0.5 billion more than
December imports of $122.4 billion.  

In January, the goods deficit decreased $0.1 billion from December to $39.5
billion, and the services surplus decreased $0.1 billion to $6.2 billion.
Exports of goods increased to $64.7 billion from $64.1 billion, and imports
of goods increased to $104.2 billion from $103.7 billion.  Exports of
services decreased to $24.9 billion from $25.1 billion, and imports of
services were virtually unchanged at $18.7 billion.

Goods
     
The December to January change in exports of goods reflected increases in
capital goods ($1.0 billion) and consumer goods ($0.3 billion).  Decreases
occurred in automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.5 billion) and
industrial supplies and materials ($0.1 billion).  Foods, feeds, and
beverages and other goods were virtually unchanged.
 
The December to January change in imports of goods reflected increases in
consumer goods ($1.3 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines
($0.2 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($0.2 billion); foods,
feeds, and beverages ($0.2 billion) and other goods ($0.1 billion).  A
decrease occurred in capital goods ($1.5 billion).

Services
     
Services exports decreased $0.1 billion from December to January.  The
decrease was more than accounted for by small decreases in other private
services (such as business, professional, and technical services and
financial services) and travel.  Changes in the other categories of services
exports were small and nearly offsetting. 

Services imports in January were virtually the same as in December.
Decreases in travel and passenger fares were nearly offset by increases in
other private services and other transportation.

Goods and Services Moving Average 

For the three months ending in January, exports of goods and services
averaged $89.9 billion, while imports of goods and services averaged $123.0
billion, resulting in an average trade deficit of $33.1 billion.  For the
three months ending in December, the average trade deficit was $33.1
billion, reflecting average exports of $90.5 billion and average imports of
$123.6 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details 

The January figures showed surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Australia
$0.3 (for December $0.5), Argentina $0.1 ($0.1), Egypt $0.1 ($0.2), and
Hong Kong $0.1 ($0.6).  Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with
China -$7.2 (-$6.1), Japan -$5.9 (-$6.1), Canada -$5.8 (-$5.7), Western
Europe -$5.6 (-$3.6), OPEC -$4.2 (-$4.3), Mexico -$2.1 (-$2.0), Korea -$1.4
(-$1.3), Taiwan -$1.2 (-$1.2), Singapore -$0.1 (virtually zero), Brazil
virtually zero ($0.3).     

Advanced technology products (ATP) exports were $18.4 billion in January and
imports were $17.7 billion, resulting in a surplus of $0.7 billion.  January
exports were $2.6 billion less than the $21.0 billion in December, while
imports were $1.8 billion less than the $19.5 billion in December.

Revisions
     
Goods carry-over in January was $0.6 billion (1.0 percent) for exports and
$1.0 billion (1.0 percent) for imports.  For December, revised export
carry-over was $0.3 billion (0.5 percent), revised down from $0.5 billion
(0.5 percent).  For December, revised import carry-over was $0.4 billion
(0.4 percent), revised down from $1.4 billion (1.4 percent).
     
Goods exports and imports for all months have been revised to assure that
seasonally adjusted values sum to the same annual totals as the unadjusted
values.
          
Services exports and imports for July through December 2000 were revised to
incorporate revisions to BEA's quarterly U.S. international transactions
accounts (ITA's), which were released March 15 (see page 29 for the monthly
revision policy).  The revised quarterly and monthly estimates are based on
more complete source data than were available previously.  For services
exports, the largest revisions were in other private services.  For services
imports, the largest revisions were in travel, royalties and license fees,
and other private services.  In addition, all months of 2000 were revised
in order to align the seasonally adjusted monthly estimates with the
quarterly and annual totals in the ITA's.

For December, services exports were revised up $0.2 billion; the revision
was more than accounted for by a revision in other private services.
Services imports were virtually unrevised, as upward revisions in royalties
and license fees and direct defense expenditures were nearly offset by
downward revisions in travel and other private services. 


                                   NOTICES
                         
                                                                                                                           
                         December 2000 Goods Revision

While processing the January 2001 statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau
discovered an error in the assignment to the proper month of export
transactions that were processed from paper documents.  We identified $795
million in export shipments to Mexico that were misassigned to December
2000.  The export shipment records filed electronically with the U.S.
Customs Service and the Census Bureau were assigned correctly.  

With this release, the Bureau has revised December 2000 to remove these
export transactions and has included them in January 2001.  All exhibits
have been revised to show the corrected figures.


                 End-use Commodity Classification Reassignments

Effective with this release, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S.
Census Bureau have made significant reassignments for a few commodities in
the End-use Classification System.  Some commodities have been reassigned
within their category groupings (1-digit level), while others have been
reassigned to different category groupings.  The reassignments were
performed to achieve a consistent classification between exports and
imports, and were based on recommendations from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other federal agencies, as well as
new information for specific commodities.

Major reassignments to both goods exports and goods imports included
cellular telephones which were reclassified from telecommunications
equipment in capital goods to other household goods in consumer goods.
Also, off-road construction trucks were reclassified from automotive
vehicles, parts and engines to materials handling equipment in capital
goods.  A few commodities were reclassified within foods, feeds, and
beverages to align agricultural and nonagricultural products with
recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Data on the reclassified basis are shown for January 2001 in Exhibits 6, 7,
8, 10, and 13.  Detailed five digit End-use commodities and groupings are
found in Exhibits 7 and 8.  Historical data will appear in the FT-900
release of June 21, and in the Annual Revision for 2000, which is also
released on June 21.


                                   NOTICE
                                
                        Request  for  User  Comments
                                

The U.S. Census Bureau is considering converting the constant dollar data
presented in Exhibits 10 and 11 of this release from a fixed-weighted basis
to a chain-weighted basis, using the Fisher Ideal Formula used by the Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA) in the National Income and Product Accounts.  BEA
introduced the Fisher formula for deflation of GDP in the mid-1990's, finding
that it more accurately measures real economic change from period to period.
(More specifically, chain-type measures remove "substitution bias.") A
detailed explanation of the major strengths and weaknesses of chain weights
is contained in articles on BEA's website at www.bea.doc.gov/bea/an1. (In
particular, see "Conceptual Basis for Chain-type Measures.") 

If the Census Bureau converts to a chained Fisher methodology, it would
remove the bias in the measure of real exports and imports and one of the
major inconsistencies between the constant dollar merchandise trade data
contained in this release and those that are included in the NIPA estimates
of GDP.  However, with chain-type measures, the totals will no longer equal
the sum of their components.  For time periods significantly removed from
the base year, the difference between the sum of the components and the
published totals can be quite large.
 
We would like to hear the views of our data users on whether we should adopt
the chain-weighted approach.  If you use the constant dollar data in Exhibits
10 and 11 of this release, please help us reach a decision by sending your
comments via email to kathleen.j.puzzilla@census.gov or fax to (301) 457-2401.
If you have any questions about this possible change, please contact
Ms. Puzzilla on (301) 457-3251.


                             Table of Contents

                               January  2001


Seasonally Adjusted

Exhibit 1   International Trade in Goods and Services. . . . . . ........4

Exhibit 2   Goods and Services Centered Three - Month Moving Averages....5

Exhibit 3   U.S. Services by Major Category--Exports . . . . . ..........6

Exhibit 4   U.S. Services by Major Category--Imports . . . . . ..........7

Exhibit 5   U.S. Trade in Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..........8

Exhibit 6   Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal End-Use Category...9

Exhibit 7   Exports of Goods by End-Use Category and Commodity .........10

Exhibit 8   Imports of Goods by End-Use Category and Commodity .........12

Exhibit 9   Petroleum and Non-Petroleum End-Use Category Totals ........14

Exhibit 10  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal End-Use
            Category (Constant Dollars) . . . . . . . ..................15

Exhibit 11  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Goods, Petroleum and Non-
            Petroleum End-Use Commodity Category Totals
            (Constant Dollars)..........................................16

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Exhibit 12  U.S. Trade in Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........17

Exhibit 13  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal End-Use
            Category....................................................18


Exhibit 14  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Goods by Selected  
            Countries and Areas   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........19

Exhibit 15  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal SITC
            Commodity Groupings.........................................21

Exhibit 16  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Advanced Technology
            Products....................................................23

Exhibit 17  Imports of Energy - Related Petroleum Products, 
            Including Crude Petroleum . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........24

Exhibit 18  Exports and Imports of Motor Vehicles and Parts By
            Selected Countries..........................................25

Information on Goods and Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........26

SOURCE: Report FT900 (CB-01-48), Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade
        Division, January  2001.  For more information, contact Haydn R. 
        Mearkle (301-457-2246) or Nick Orsini (301-457-2311), Foreign 
        Trade Division.           


                         



