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' 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 May 2004,  these shipments
     totaled $62.3  million.  U.S. export coverage also excludes certain
     Canadian postal shipments.  For May 2004 these shipments totaled
     $12.9 million.

     U.S. import coverage includes shipments of railcars and
     locomotives from Canada.  Effective with January 2004 statistics,
     Canada excludes these shipments from its goods exports to the
     United States, therefore creating coverage differences between the
     two countries for these goods.

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 May 2004 account for 1.8 
     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 May
     2004,  reexports  to  Canada  were  $2,119 million.
                                   
4.   Exchange Rate -- Average monthly exchange rates are applied
     to convert the published data to U.S. currency. For May 2004, the
     average exchange rate was 1.3789 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, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Jan
Mayen Island, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican
City.   

European Union (25) - Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Malta, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
     
European Union (15) - 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).  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 services;
     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 September 14, 2004. The Survey is available from the
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402.



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


RELEASE SCHEDULE

DATE                     Day   


Jan. . . . .03-10-04     Wednesday
Feb. . . . .04-14-04     Wednesday
Mar. . . . .05-12-04     Wednesday
Apr. . . . .06-14-04     Monday
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
