27
INFORMATION ON GOODS AND SERVICES
GOODS
CENSUS BASIS
The Census basis goods data are compiled from the documents
collected by the U.S. Customs Border and Protection 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 Border
and Protection 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