EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 18, 1998 (FRIDAY) Public Information Office CB98-236 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TDD) John Fowler Commodity Flow Survey Branch 301-457-2108 U.S. Business Shipments Surpass $7 Trillion in 1997, Census Bureau Reports Mining, manufacturing, wholesale and selected retail establishments shipped $7.6 trillion of commodities weighing over 11 million tons in 1997, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported in a survey issued today. The 1997 Commodity Flow Survey Preliminary U.S. Report shows increases from 1993 to 1997 of approximately 30 percent for value of shipments and 19 percent for tonnage. Trucking accounted for 72 percent of the value of shipments and approximately 69 percent of the overall tonnage. The survey provides summary statistics on the transportation of freight, featuring characteristics such as value, weight and average miles per shipment by mode of transportation and major commodity shipped. The preliminary report includes these findings: - More than 50 percent of all tonnage traveled less than 50 miles. - Coal accounted for about 10 percent of the total tonnage shipped. - The value of shipments via the U.S. Postal Service, parcel delivery services and couriers increased about 53 percent from 1993. The 1997 Commodity Flow Survey is part of the 1997 Economic Census and continues a partnership between the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The domestic freight statistics are used by public and private policy-makers for planning, forecasting and evaluating transportation needs. Data presented in the preliminary report are subject to revision based upon additional processing and analysis to be conducted during 1999. Final reports at the national, state and regional levels will be released beginning in late 1999. Estimates from the 1997 Commodity Flow Survey are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. Sources of nonsampling error include errors of response, nonreporting and coverage. Measures of sampling variability, presented as coefficients of variation and standard errors, are shown in the tables in the report.-X-The U.S. Census Bureau, pre-eminent collector and disseminator of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and the economy of the United States, conducts a population and housing census every 10 years, an economic census every five years and more than 100 demographic and economic surveys every year, all of them evolving from the first census in 1790.
