Trade Flow Pricing Service Explanatory Notes

• Value of Exports is the F.A.S. (free alongside ship) value of the cargo at the port or border crossing point leaving the U.S. This value excludes any ocean freight or insurance to the destination country, but includes the cost of moving the goods from an inland point within the U.S. to the port of exit or border crossing point.

• Value of Imports is the Customs Import Value. This value excludes any cost of ocean freight or insurance from the foreign country to the port of unlading or border crossing point. It is the price paid for the goods for exportation to the U.S., excluding U.S. import duties, freight, insurance and other charges incurred in bringing the goods to the U.S

• The Total Value for a commodity may be greater than the sum of its waterborne and airborne movements, because the cargo may have left or entered the U.S. overland through Canada or Mexico, from where it left for or arrived from an overseas country.

• The type of unit displayed for Total Trade depends upon what is requested by U.S. Customs for a particular commodity. This may or may not be metric weight.

• When the Unit of Measure is in metric weight, the total weight reported is the "net weight" of the cargo, which is less than the sum of Waterborne and Airborne "shipping weight" for that specific movement.

• The accuracy of this U.S. government supplied data is dependent upon the data input of individual companies involved in the trade, and upon validation of the data by U.S. Customs Service and the Bureau of Census.

• The U.S. Customs District is the location where the cargo left the U.S. for a foreign destination, or where the cargo first entered the United States. For imports, an additional Customs District (Customs District of Entry) is available for where the commodity cleared Customs and entered the U.S. economy from an economic standpoint. The Customs District of Unlading is where the cargo first physically entered the U.S., whether at a port, airport, or border crossing point.

• The Value per Unit for total cargo movements or Value per Kilogram by mode of transportation is calculated by dividing the value by the corresponding number of units or kilograms. For those commodities which are uniquely described by a 10-digit commodity code, this provides valuable price per unit information on an international product or commodity movement. Such information may be related to other market information to provide insight into competitors' activity.