                INFORMATION ON GOODS AND SERVICES
                                
                                
GOODS

CENSUS BASIS

The Census basis goods data are compiled from the
documents collected by the U.S. Customs Service and reflect
the movement of goods between foreign countries and the 50
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and U.S. Foreign Trade Zones.  They include
government and non-government shipments of goods, and
exclude shipments between the United States and its
territories and possessions, transactions with U.S. military,
diplomatic and consular installations abroad, U.S. goods
returned to the United States by its Armed Forces, personal
and household effects of travelers, and in-transit shipments. 
The General Imports value reflects the total arrival of
merchandise from foreign countries that immediately enters
consumption channels, warehouses, or Foreign Trade Zones.

For imports, the value reported is the U.S. Customs Service
appraised value of merchandise;  generally, the price paid for
merchandise for export to the United States.  Import duties,
freight, insurance, and other charges incurred in bringing
merchandise to the United States are excluded.

Exports are valued at the f.a.s.- free alongside ship value of
merchandise at the U.S. port of export, based on the
transaction price including inland freight, insurance, and other
charges incurred in placing the merchandise alongside the
carrier at the U.S. port of exportation.

Monthly data include actual month's transactions as well as a
small number of transactions for previous months.  Each
month we revise the aggregate seasonally adjusted (current
and chain-weighted dollar) and unadjusted export, import and
trade balance figures, as well as the end-use totals for the
prior month.  SITC and country detail data are not revised
monthly.  The timing adjustment shown in Exhibit 14 is the
difference between monthly data as originally reported and as
recompiled. Quarterly revisions are made to the chain-
weighted dollar series. In the last month of each quarter, the
current and previous quarter are revised to incorporate the
Bureau of Labor Statistics's monthly revisions and align
Census and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis's quarterly
data. Annual revisions for the months are made in June to
reflect
corrections received subsequent to the monthly revision. These
revisions are reflected in totals, end-use, SITC and country
summary data. The monthly end-use, commodity, and country
and area data presented in this release are on a Census basis. 
This refers to Exhibits 6 - 18.
          
U.S./CANADA DATA EXCHANGE
AND SUBSTITUTION

The data for U.S. exports to Canada are derived from import
data compiled by Canada.  The use of Canada's import data to
produce U.S. export data requires several alignments in order
to compare the two series.

1.   Coverage -- Canadian imports are based on country of
     origin.  U.S. goods shipped from a third country are
     included.  U.S. exports exclude these foreign shipments.
     For November 2003,  these shipments totaled $83.7 
     million.  U.S. export coverage also excludes certain
     Canadian postal shipments.  For November 2003, these
     shipments totaled $12.1 million.
   
2.   Valuation -- Canadian imports are valued at point of origin
     in the United States.  However, U.S. exports are valued at
     the port of exit in the United States and include inland
     freight charges, making the U.S. export value slightly
     larger.  Canada requires inland freight to be reported.
     Inland freight charges for November 2003 account for 1.9 
     percent of the value of  U.S. exports to Canada.

3.   Reexports -- U.S. exports include reexports of foreign
     goods.  Again,  the  aggregate U.S. export figure is slightly
     larger.  For November 2003,  reexports  to  Canada  were 
     $2,031 million.
                                   
4.   Exchange Rate -- Average monthly exchange rates are
     applied to convert the published data to U.S. currency. For
     November 2003, the average exchange rate was 1.3130
     Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar.

5.   Other -- There are other minor differences which are
     statistically insignificant, such as rounding error.




Canadian Estimates

Effective with January 2001 statistics, the current month data
for exports to Canada contain an estimate for late arrivals and
corrections.  The following month, this estimate will be
replaced, in the press release tables only, with the actual value
of late receipts and corrections.  This estimate improves the
current month data for exports to Canada and treats late
receipts for exports to Canada in a manner more consistent
with the treatment of late receipts for exports to other
countries.

Nonsampling errors

The goods data are a complete enumeration of documents
collected by the U.S. Customs Service and are not subject
to sampling errors; but they are subject to several types of
nonsampling errors.  Quality assurance procedures are
performed at every stage of collection, processing and
tabulation; however the data are still subject to several types
of nonsampling errors.  The most significant of these
include reporting errors, undocumented shipments,
timeliness, data capture errors, and errors in the estimation
of low-valued transactions:  

Reporting Errors: Reporting errors are mistakes or
omissions made by importers, exporters or their agents in
their import or export declarations.  Most errors involve
missing or invalid commodity classification codes and
missing or incorrect quantities or shipping weights.  They
have a negligible effect on import, export and balance of trade
statistics.  However, they can affect the detailed commodity
statistics.

Undocumented Shipments: Federal regulations require
importers, exporters or their agents to report all merchandise
shipments above established exemption levels.
The U.S. Census Bureau has determined that not all required
documents are filed, particularly for exports.

Timeliness and Data Capture Errors: The U.S. Census
Bureau captures import and export information from
administrative documents and through various automated
collection programs.  Documents may be lost, data may be
incorrectly keyed, coded or recorded.  Transactions may be
included in a subsequent month's statistics if received late.

Low-valued Transactions: The total values of transactions
valued as much as or below $2,500 for exports and $2,000
($250 for certain quota items) for imports are estimated for
each country, using factors based on the ratios of low-valued
shipments to individual country totals for past periods.

The U.S. Census Bureau recommends that data users
incorporate this information into their analyses, as 
nonsampling errors could impact the conclusion drawn from
the results.  For a detailed discussion of errors affecting the 
goods data, see "U.S. Merchandise Trade Statistics: 
A Quality Profile" available on the INTERNET at
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.html#infopapers or
from the Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

AREA GROUPINGS (See Exhibits 14 and 14A)

North America - Canada, Mexico

Western Europe - Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-
Hercegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Faroe Islands,
Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta and Gozo,
Macedonia, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San
Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Jan Mayen Island, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City,
Yugoslavia.

European Union - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

Euro Area - Austria,  Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland,  Italy, Luxembourg,  Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain.
 
European Free Trade Association - Iceland, Liechtenstein,
Norway, Switzerland.

Eastern Europe - Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan.

Pacific Rim - Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan.

South/Central America -  Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda,
Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda,
Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana,
Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras,
Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and 
Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname,
Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay,
Venezuela.

OPEC - Algeria,  Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya,
Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates,
Venezuela.
Adjustments for Seasonal and Working-Day Variations

Goods are initially classified under the Harmonized System
(HS) which describes and measures the characteristics of

goods traded.  Combining trade into approximately 140
export and 140 import end-use categories makes it possible 
to examine goods according to their principal uses (See
Exhibits 7 and 8).  These categories are used as the basis for
computing the seasonal and working-day adjusted data. 
These adjusted data are then summed to the six end-use
aggregates for publication (Exhibit 6).  These data are
provided to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, from the
U.S. Census  Bureau, for use in the Balance of Payments and
the National Income and Product Accounts.

The seasonal adjustment procedure is based on a model that
estimates the monthly movements as percentages above or
below the general level of each end-use commodity series
(unlike other methods that redistribute the actual series values
over the calendar year).   Imports of petroleum and petroleum
products are adjusted for the length of the month.  Because of
the extremely variable movements of the data series for
aircraft, users studying data trends may wish to analyze
aircraft separately from other trade.  

Adjustments for Price Change

Data adjusted for seasonal variation on a real dollar basis
(2000 base year) are presented in Exhibits 10 and 11.  This
adjustment for price change is done using the Fisher chain-
weighted methodology.  The deflators are primarily based
upon the monthly price indexes published by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics using techniques developed for the National
Income and Product Accounts by the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis.

SITC Data

Goods data appearing in Exhibit 15 are classified in terms of
the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC)
Revision 3.  Agricultural goods consist of non-marine food
products and other products of agriculture which have not 
passed through complex processes of manufacture, such as
raw hides and skins, fats and oils, and wine. A few goods
such as essential oils, starches, casein, and albumin,
considered to be agricultural by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, have been excluded from agricultural goods and
are included in manufactured goods where they are classified
in the SITC.

Manufactured goods conform to the SITC sections that
include chemicals and related products; manufactured goods
classified chiefly by material; machinery and transport
equipment; miscellaneous manufactured articles; and goods
and transactions not classified elsewhere.

Reexports are foreign merchandise entering the country as
imports, and  at the time of exportation are in substantially the
same condition as when imported.  Reexports, included in 
overall export totals, appear as separate line items in Exhibit
15.

Advanced Technology Products (ATP)

About 500 of some 22,000 commodity classification codes
used in reporting U.S. merchandise trade are identified as
"advanced technology" codes and they meet the following
criteria:

1.   The code contains products whose technology is from a
     recognized high technology field (e.g., biotechnology).

2.   These products represent leading edge technology in that
     field.

3.   Such products constitute a significant part of all items
     covered in the selected classification code.

The aggregation of the goods results in a measure of advanced
technology trade which appears in Exhibit 16.  This product
and commodity-based measure of advanced technology differs
from broader NAICS industry-based measures which include
all goods produced by a particular industry group, regardless
of the level of technology embodied in the goods.
     
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS (BOP) BASIS 

Goods on a Census basis are adjusted by the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis to goods on a BOP basis to bring the data
in line with the concepts and definitions used to prepare the
international and national accounts.  Broadly, the adjustments
include changes in ownership that occur without goods passing
into or out of the customs territory of the United States.  These
adjustments are necessary to supplement coverage of the
Census basis data, to eliminate duplication of transactions
recorded elsewhere in the international accounts, and to value
transactions according to a standard definition.
  
The export adjustments include:

     U.S. military sales contracts - This deduction of U.S.
     military sales contracts is made because the U.S. Census
     Bureau has included these contracts in the goods data, but
     BEA includes them in the service category "Transfers Under
     U.S. Military Sales Contracts."  BEA's source material for
     these contracts is more comprehensive, but has no distinction
     between goods and services.

     Private gift parcels.  This addition is made for parcels
     mailed to foreigners by individuals through the U.S. Postal
     Service.  (Only commercial shipments are covered in Census
     goods exports.)

     Gold exports, nonmonetary.  This addition is made for gold
     that is purchased by foreign official agencies from private 
dealers in the United States and held at the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York.  The Census data only include gold that
leaves the customs territory.

   Some smaller adjustments are also made to exports:
     Deductions for repairs of goods, developed motion picture
     film, and military grant-aid.  Additions for sales of fish in
     U.S. territorial waters, exports of electricity to Mexico, and
     vessels and oil rigs that change ownership for which no
     export document is filed.

The import adjustments include:

     Inland freight in Canada.   An addition is made for inland
     freight in Canada.  Imports of goods from all countries are
     valued at the foreign port of export, including inland freight
     charges ("customs value").  In the case of Canada, this
     should be the cost of the goods at the U.S. border. 
     However, the customs value for imports for certain 
     Canadian goods is the point of origin in Canada.  The BEA
     makes an addition for the inland freight charges of
     transporting these Canadian goods to the U.S. border to
     make the value comparable to the customs value as reported
     by all other countries.  Insurance and freight charges for
     transporting goods to the United States from all other
     countries to the U.S. border are included in services by the
     BEA.  (The same procedure is used for Mexico as an Other
     Adjustment, but is much smaller.)

     Gold imports, nonmonetary.  This addition is made for
     gold sold by foreign official agencies to private purchasers
     out of stock held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New
     York.  The Census data only include gold that enters the
     customs territory.

     Imports by U.S. military agencies.  This deduction of U.S.
     military sales contracts is made because the U.S. Census
     Bureau has included these contracts in the goods data, but
     BEA includes them in the service category "Direct Defense
     Expenditures".  BEA's source material is more
     comprehensive, but has no distinction between goods and
     services.  

     Some smaller adjustments are also made to imports:
     Deductions for repairs of goods, and developed  motion
     picture film.  Additions for imported electricity from
     Mexico, conversion of vessels for commercial use, and
     repairs to U.S. vessels abroad, and valuation of
     prepackaged software imports at market value.

SERVICES

The statistics are estimates of services transactions between
foreign countries and the 50 states, the District of Columbia, 

Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories
and possessions.  Transactions with U.S. military, diplomatic,
and consular installations abroad are excluded because they
are considered to be part of the U.S. economy.

Services are shown in seven broad categories.  Types of
services for imports and exports are the same for six of the
seven categories.  For the seventh, exports is "Transfers
Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts" while for imports the
category is "Direct Defense Expenditures".  The following is
a brief description of the types of services included in each
category:

     Travel - Purchases of services and goods by U.S. travelers
     abroad and by foreign visitors to the United States.  A
     traveler is defined as a person who stays for a period of less
     than 1 year in a country of which the person is not a
     resident.  

Includes expenditures for food, lodging, recreation, gifts, and
other items incidental to a foreign visit.

     Passenger Fares - Fares paid by residents of one country
     to residents of other countries.  Receipts consist of fares
     received by U.S. carriers from foreign residents for travel
     between the United States and foreign countries and
     between two foreign points.  

Payments consist of fares paid by U.S. residents to foreign
carriers for travel between the United States and foreign
countries.

     Other Transportation - Charges for the transportation of
     goods by ocean, air, waterway, pipeline, and rail carriers to
     and from the United States.  Includes freight charges,
     operating expenses that transportation companies incur in
     foreign ports, and payments for vessel charter and aircraft 
     rentals with crew.

     Royalties and License Fees - Transactions with foreign
     residents involving intangible assets and proprietary rights,
     such as the use of patents, techniques, processes, formulas,
     designs, know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and
     manufacturing rights.  The term "royalties" generally refers
     to payments for the utilization of copyrights or trademarks,
     and the term "license fees" generally refers to payments for
     the use of patents or industrial processes.

     Other Private Services - Transactions with affiliated
     foreigners, for which no identification by type is available,
     and of transactions with unaffiliated foreigners.  (The term
     "affiliated" refers to a direct investment relationship, which
     exists when a U.S. person has ownership or control,
     directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of a foreign
     business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent, or 



when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S.
enterprise.)  Transactions with unaffiliated foreigners consist
of education services; financial services (includes commissions
and other transactions fees associated with
the purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income
of banks, and excludes investment income); insurance
premiums and losses; telecommunications services (includes
transmission services and value-added services); and business,
professional, and technical services. Included in the last group
are advertising services; computer and data processing
services; database and other information services; research,
development, and testing services; management, consulting,
and public relations services; legal services; construction,
engineering, architectural, and mining services; industrial
engineering services; installation, maintenance, repair of
equipment; and other services, including medical services and
film and tape rentals.
     
       Transfers Under U.S. Military Sales Contracts (Exports
     only) - Exports of goods and services in which U.S.
     Government military agencies participate.  Includes both
     goods, such as equipment, and services, such as repair
     services and training, that cannot be separately identified.

       Direct Defense Expenditures (Imports only) -
     Expenditures incurred by U.S. military agencies abroad,
     including expenditures by U.S. personnel, payments of
     wages to foreign residents, construction expenditures,
     payments for foreign contractual services, and
     procurement of foreign goods.  Includes both goods and
     services that cannot be separately identified.

       U.S. Government Miscellaneous Services - Transactions
     of U.S. Government nonmilitary agencies with foreign
     residents.  Most of these transactions involve the
     provision of services to, or purchases of services from,
     foreigners; transfers of some goods are also included.

    Services estimates are based on quarterly, annual, and benchmark
surveys and partial information generated from monthly
reports.  Service transactions are estimated at market prices. 
Estimates are seasonally adjusted when statistically
significant seasonal patterns are present.  No country or area
detail is available due to the lack of adequate source data
upon which to base estimates.

     The revision policy is as follows:    Each month, a
preliminary estimate for the current month and a revised
estimate for the immediately preceding month are
released.  After a revised month is released, no further
changes are made to that month until more
complete source data become available in
March, June, September, and December.  The
releases in March, June, September, and  December contain
revised data for the previous six 
months.  The release in March also contains
revisions for all months of the previous year in
order to align the seasonally adjusted
monthly data with annual totals.  The release in June
contains annual revisions, which reflect updated source data
and changes in estimating methodologies.  Quarterly and
annual estimates of services are included as part of the U.S.
international transactions accounts, published in the April,
July, October, and January issues of the Survey of Current
Business.  The next release of the U.S. international
transactions  accounts is scheduled for March 12, 2004. The
Survey is available from the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

RELEASE SCHEDULE

DATE                         Day   

Dec02-13-04     Friday
  
Jan. . . . .03-10-04     Wednesday
Feb. . . . .04-14-04     Wednesday
Mar. . . . .05-12-04     Wednesday
Apr. . . . .06-11-04     Friday
May. . . . .07-13-04     Tuesday
Jun. . . . .08-13-04     Friday

Jul. . . . .09-10-04     Friday
Aug. . . . .10-14-04     Thursday
Sep. . . . .11-10-04     Wednesday
Oct. . . . .12-14-04     Tuesday
Nov. . . . .01-12-05     Wednesday
Dec. . . . .02-10-05     Thursday

ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY

The FT-900 and supplement are available on the following:

INTERNET  The U.S. International Trade in Goods and
Services reports are available at:  www.census.gov/foreign-
trade/ or www.bea.gov/bea/rels.htm.

STAT-USA  The U.S. Department of Commerce's electronic 
information facility. Call 1 800 STAT-USA for product
information. Additional data and information on goods are
obtainable from: Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census
Bureau,  Washington, D.C.  20233

Additional data and information on services are obtainable
from:   Balance of Payments Division, U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis,  Washington, D.C.  20230


SOURCE: Report FT900 (CB-04-02, BEA-04-02), Bureau of the Census, Foreign 
	Trade Division, November 2003.  For more information, contact Haydn R. 
        Mearkle (301-763-2246) or Nick Orsini (301-763-2311), Foreign 
        Trade Division. 

