Getting Your Trade Data Faster

In July 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau will introduce the Advance Report: U.S. International Trade in Goods. The new Advance Report will contain international goods trade data for five export and import end-use categories, in addition to totals. While the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) jointly produce the full FT-900: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services (FT-900) report approximately 35 calendar days after the reference month ends, the new Advance Report will be published up to a week sooner.

Private sector data users and other government agencies will both benefit from an earlier release of U.S. trade data. The Advance Report allows policymakers and private data users to make data-driven decisions sooner due to this high-level “snapshot,” coupled with BEA’s expanded ability to produce a more complete advance Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimate. In addition, the release will also allow BEA to incorporate export and import data from the third month of a quarter into the advance quarterly estimate of GDP, thereby producing a more complete quarterly estimate. The advance GDP offers the first glimpse of the broadest measure of how the U.S. economy is performing for any given quarter.

These data will cover end-use categories at the one-digit level for the impending monthly trade release. The comprehensive FT-900 will continue to be published on the same schedule and will cover the full details that you are used to seeing today.