Technical Documentation

NOTE TO USERS: This section contains critical information on sources and reliability 
of data, as well as definitions of terms and methodological procedures that users 
should consider before attempting to interpret or analyze the statistical data 
presented in this report. Failure to do so may affect the results.

Overview

This report is a continuing series of reports profiling U.S. importers and exporters. 
The first report, A Profile of United States Exporters: Initial Findings from the 
Exporter Data Base, was released by the International Trade Administration in 
September 1993. That report was based on Census Bureau data compiled both from the 
1987 Economic Census and from documents filed for export clearances during 1987 
and used a methodology not employed in succeeding reports. Subsequent reports, 
covering 1992 through present, are based on economic census and survey data on file 
at the Census Bureau, administrative records from other government agencies, and 
documents filed for export clearances. The 2009 report introduced import data to 
the profile. The annual release is now named the Profile of U.S. Importing and 
Exporting Companies. 

These profiles are compiled by the Foreign Trade Division of the U. S. Census Bureau. 
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is a partial sponsor of the work, 
providing both financial assistance and advice on data user needs. The ITA also 
sponsors more detailed Exhibits, which will be available on their Web site later 
this year. Users will be notified on the ITA Web site (www.ita.doc.gov) when this 
information is available.

Effective with the 1997/1998 report, companies are classified according to the 
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) instead of the Standard 
Industrial Classification (SIC) system. There are differences in the ways NAICS 
and SIC classify certain types of companies. For example, manufacturers of prepackaged 
software and books are classified as manufacturers under SIC and as Other types 
of companies under NAICS. Users are advised to consider these differences when 
making year-over-year comparisons of exporters and exporter characteristics before 
and after 1997. This profile, based on new and revised data, uses the same methodology 
as previous years.

The importer and exporter profiles are developed to provide both government and 
private sector users with information about the importing and exporting community 
including employment size, type of company, and major foreign markets. In this report 
the data are presented in Exhibits 1 through 7, where the export and import data use 
letters a through h to designate whether the data represents statistical year, 
prior year, or year-over-year comparisons. Letters g and h represent data on companies 
that both import and export for current and prior year. The previous years export 
figures in this report are revised from data released in the previous exporter profile. 
The revisions are based on the ability to match additional export records. 

The exhibits in this report include detailed breakdowns based upon the number of 
employees of the identified importing and exporting companies. In presenting these 
results, companies are classified as small (less than 100 employees including number 
of employees unknown), medium (100 to 499 employees), and large (500 or more employees). 

Exhibit 3 provides information on exports to related parties, such as parent or 
subsidiary firms. Two parties are considered related if either party owns, directly 
or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the other party. We do not currently capture 
related party information for imports entered into U.S. Foreign Trade Zones. As a 
result, the import related party exhibits (3c and 3d) are not available at this time. 
Due to mandatory AES filing requirements, an exporter must report whether or not an 
export shipment is to a related party. Therefore, effective with the 2009/2010 report, 
the columns in exhibits 3a and 3b labeled Non-reported have been eliminated.

All percentages stated in this report, unless otherwise specified, were calculated 
based solely upon the statistical and prior years import or export values that could 
be linked to specific active companies in the Business Register--the known value. 
In addition, the source of the administrative records, the Business Register, was 
restructured starting with 2002 data. For explanations of the methods used in tabulating 
the information as well as non-sampling errors and other limitations of the export 
data in this report, see the Methodology section below. Users are advised to consider 
these limitations when analyzing this information as they may affect the results. 
Users should cite the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce as the source 
of the information in this report, not as the source of their analyses.

Sources of Information

The importer and exporter profiles were created from import and export merchandise 
trade information and company characteristics contained in the Census Bureaus data 
base of company information, the Business Register. Company characteristics are gathered 
through economic censuses and surveys and supplemented with employment and payroll 
information provided by the Internal Revenue Service. Data on U.S. exports of merchandise 
from the U.S. to all countries, except Canada, is compiled from the Electronic Export 
Information (EEI) filed by the United States Principal Party in Interest (USPPI) or 
their agents through the Automated Export System (AES). The EEI is unique among Census 
Bureau data collection methods since it is not sent to respondents soliciting responses 
as in the case of surveys. Each EEI represents a shipment of one or more kinds of 
merchandise from one exporter to one foreign importer on a single carrier. Filing the 
EEI is mandatory under Chapter 9, Title 13, United States Code. Qualified exporters 
or their agents submit EEI data by automated means directly to the U.S. Census Bureau. 
The United States is substituting Canadian import statistics for U.S. exports to Canada 
in accordance with a 1987 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Census Bureau, U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection, Canadian Customs, and Statistics Canada. The import trade 
statistics are compiled from multiple sources. The majority of import data comes from 
transactions filed electronically by importers or their licensed brokers via the Automated 
Broker Interface (ABI) or the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Other sources 
include electronic or paper documents for foreign trade zone admission and paper import 
entry summaries. In addition, data on imports of electricity and natural gas from Canada 
are obtained from Canadian sources. 

Methodology

This profile was compiled using company identifiers or company names from import and 
export transactions to electronically link trade data to company characteristics in the 
Business Register. Beginning with data year 2002, the Business Register database was 
completely restructured to include additional information. Due to these changes and 
problems with our prior methodology, the matching routines used to create the Profile 
were updated. Despite the limitations within the Business Register, we are able to 
maintain consistency with our prior Profiles matching routines.

Less than 3 percent of the total export value and slightly more than 3 percent of the 
import value, including low-value estimates, imports or exports by U.S. and foreign 
governments, timing adjustments, and end-of-year revisions, was excluded from this 
matching process because the transactions cannot be attributed to specific importing 
or exporting companies. Export transactions that could not be matched electronically 
were investigated and linked manually to specific companies using a combination of 
criteria, including company name, location, type, and product. Import transactions 
that could not be matched electronically were left unmatched. Unlike exports, all of 
the identifiers are numeric for imports, so the name matching investigations used to 
increase the export match rates cannot be applied. A comparison of the overall match 
rates, based on total import and export value, is presented in Table 1 under Distribution 
of Exports and Imports by Identified and Unidentified Companies, on page 7. 

It was not possible to investigate every unmatched export transaction, so priority was 
given to those with the highest export values. The percentage of unidentified value tends 
to decrease each year as more companies are identified and value thresholds triggering 
investigation are lowered. Therefore, users should make year-to-year comparisons with 
caution and be aware that the number of small companies and their associated known 
value are most likely understated. Similarly, the known value may not reflect all 
shipments by identified companies.

Beginning with data year 2010, this profile is produced using the same revised import 
and export data used to compile the Foreign Trade Divisions published U.S. International 
Trade in Goods and Services Annual Revision for a given data year. The rows labeled 
Revisions will be removed from Table 1 under Distribution of Exports and Imports by 
Identified and Unidentified Companies effective with the 2010/2011 report.


Data Quality

Quality assurance procedures were applied to all phases of collection, processing and 
tabulation of the information in this report to minimize errors. The data continue to be 
subject to non-sampling errors in data reporting (of the basic trade statistics and the 
administrative record source data), coding, keying, and in coverage (due to failure to 
identify all importing and exporting companies). For an explanation of non-sampling errors 
affecting the trade statistics, see the Information on Goods and Services section of the FT 
900 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, or call (301)763-2311 to request a copy 
of the release. One can also obtain this information from the web at the following 
address: http://www.census.gov/ft900.

The characteristics of importing and exporting companies in this report reflect companies 
that could be matched to the Business Register. When analyzing these data, users should 
consider the possible impact of unmatched transactions and unidentified companies on their 
results. Unidentified importers or exporters may not reflect the same distribution of 
company types and sizes as identified companies. Similarly, comparisons between the number 
of companies importing or exporting in given categories may be misleading due to differences 
in the percentage of value matched to companies of various types and sizes.

Year-over-year comparisons should also be made with caution. Changes in the number of 
importers or exporters and the value of their transactions, the known value, may be due 
to differences in match rates or companies entering/dropping out of the import/export market. 
Table 1, under Distribution of Exports and Imports by Identified and Unidentified Companies, 
at the beginning of this report shows a comparison of the match rates, based on total value, 
as well as the value attributable to companies that either imported or exported in both years.

Data by State

The data contained in Exhibits 6a through 6c are based on the Origin of Movement (OM) 
State. The U.S. state of origin is the 2-character postal code for the state in which 
the goods begin their journey to the port of export. This field allowed the compilation 
of the Origin of Movement - Based on Origin State Series. The OM series based on origin 
state has been available since 1987 and is intended to reflect the transportation origin 
of exports. 

The data contained in Exhibits 6d and 6e are based on the U.S. State of Destination. This 
is defined as the U.S. state, U.S. territory or U.S. possession where the merchandise 
is destined, as known at the time of entry summary filing. For shipments into Foreign 
Trade Zones, the import state represents the location of the zone.

For more complete information on the state data series, refer to the notice at: 
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/elom.html

NAICS-based Data

The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) is a two- through six-digit 
hierarchical classification system, offering five levels of detail. Each digit in the 
code is part of a series of progressively narrower categories, and the more digits in 
the code signify greater classification detail. The first two digits designate the 
economic sector, the third digit designates the subsector, the fourth digit designates 
the industry group, the fifth digit designates the NAICS industry, and the sixth digit 
designates the national industry.

NAICS information for a given company or establishment comes from a variety of governmental 
agencies. These include the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration 
(SSA) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These agencies collect information from 
companies and provide these data to the Census Bureau to the best of their abilities. 
Generally, the U.S. Census Bureau's NAICS classification codes are derived from information 
that the business establishment provided on surveys, census forms, or administrative records. 
Occasionally, these codes can only be defined at a level of very low detail (as low as 2 digits). 

For more information on NAICS, refer to the web at the following address: 
http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/


Definitions of Terms

Business Register. Data base of companies included in economic census and surveys 
conducted by the Census Bureau.

Company. A company is a business consisting of one domestic location (single location 
company) or more than one domestic location (multiple location company) under its 
ownership or control.

Identified Companies: Identified companies are those companies to which one or more 
transactions were matched. The import or export value associated with these companies 
is termed known value. 

Unclassified Companies: These are identified companies for which no NAICS classification 
(manufacturers, wholesalers or other companies) could be assigned.  As of 2012, these 
companies will be considered other companies.

Company Size. Company sizes are based on employment: small (less than 100 employees 
including number of employees unknown), medium (100 - 499 employees), and large (500 or 
more employees).

Company Type. Company types are based on the North American Industry Classification System 
(NAICS) and are broken out into manufacturers, wholesalers, and all other companies. Those 
companies for which a valid NAICS code is not available are placed in the other grouping.

Employment. Employment includes all employees, full-time or part-time, reported on a 
firms payroll during specific payroll periods.

General Imports. "General Imports" measure the total physical arrivals of merchandise 
from foreign countries, whether such merchandise enters consumption channels immediately 
or is entered into bonded warehouses or Foreign Trade Zones under Customs custody.

Low-value Estimates. Export transactions valued under $2,501 and import transactions 
valued under $251 for certain quota items and $2001 for all other imported goods, are 
not required to be reported. Instead, the Census Bureau estimates the value of such 
shipments to each country using factors based on the ratios of low-valued shipments to 
individual country totals for past periods. For more information please see the following 
link: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/lvpaper.html

Related Party. A related party transaction is one between a U.S. exporter and a foreign 
consignee, where either party owns (directly or indirectly) 10 percent or more of the 
other party. 

State of the Origin of Movement (OM). The OM series data provides export statistics based 
on the U.S. state from which the merchandise starts its journey to the port of export; 
i.e., the transportation origin. This information is reported by the exporter. See the Data 
Quality section above for limitations of this data series.

State of Destination. The State of Destination data series provides import statistics 
based on the U.S. state, U.S. territory or U.S. possession where the merchandise is destined, 
as known at the time of entry summary filing. This information is reported by the importer. 
See the Data Quality section above for limitations of this data series.

Value (Exports). The export values in this report are f.a.s. (free alongside ship) and 
include both domestic exports and re-exports of foreign merchandise. Several different 
values are given:

Total export value: The total value includes all transactions whether or not linked to 
specific companies.

Known value: The value of transactions linked to specific companies. All percentages 
given for company size and types are based on known value.

Unidentified Value: The valued transactions that were not linked to a specific company. 
Note that these shipments might have been exported either by identified companies or by 
other companies not identified in the linking process.

Value (Imports). The import values in this report are customs import value. The Customs
value is the value of imports as appraised by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 
accordance with the legal requirements of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended. This value 
is generally defined as the price actually paid or payable for merchandise when sold for 
exportation to the United States, excluding U.S. import duties, freight, insurance, and 
other charges incurred in bringing the merchandise to the United States. The term "price 
actually paid or payable" means the total payment (whether direct or indirect, and exclusive 
of any costs, charges, or expenses incurred for transportation, insurance, and related services 
incident to the international shipment of the merchandise from the country of exportation 
to the place of importation in the United States) made, or to be made, for imported merchandise 
by the buyer to, or for the benefit, of the seller. The type of imports shown in this report 
is general. Please see the definition for General Imports for more information. Several 
different values are given:

Total import value: The total value includes all transactions whether or not linked to 
specific companies.

Known value: The value of transactions linked to specific companies. All percentages given 
for company size and types are based on known value.

Unidentified Value: The valued transactions that were not linked to a specific company. 
Note that these shipments might have been imported either by identified companies or by 
other companies not identified in the linking process.


Country Groupings

Country groupings are defined at the time of the statistical reporting period. Therefore, 
country groupings may have different definitions between years. Any differences are noted 
in the listing below.

Africa - Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territories, Burkina Faso, 
Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), 
Congo (Kinshasa), Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, 
French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, 
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, 
Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, 
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, St. Helena, Sudan, Swaziland, 
Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

APEC (Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation) - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong 
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (South), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, 
Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, 
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

Asia Near East - Bahrain, Gaza Strip Administered by Israel, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, 
Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, West Bank 
Administered by Israel, Yemen.

Asia - South - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

CAFTA - DR (Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement) - 
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua

Central American Common Market - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua. 

Euro Area - Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.

Europe - Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, 
Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, 
Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, 
Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, 
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Jan Mayen Island, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, 
Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vatican City,
European Union - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, 
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, 
Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United 
Kingdom.

European Union - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, 
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, 
Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United 
Kingdom.

LAFTA (Latin American Free Trade Area) - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, 
Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Allies - Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, 
Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, 
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, 
United Kingdom.

NICS (Newly Industrialized Countries) - Hong Kong, Korea (South), Singapore, Taiwan.

North America - Canada, Mexico

OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) - Australia, Austria, Belgium, 
Canada, 
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, 
Japan, Korea (South), Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, 
Slovakia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) - Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, 
Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela. 

Pacific Rim Countries - Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (South), 
Macau, 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, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland 
Islands (Islas Malvinas), French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, 
Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts 
and Nevis, Sint Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad 
and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Twenty Latin American Republics - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, 
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, 
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.


Additional Information

For additional information, refer to the Guide to Foreign Trade Statistics: 
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/guide







