International trading businesses are constantly looking for ways to stay competitive in the growing global marketplace. One of the best ways to stay competitive is to know the overall movements of international markets, but many businesses do not realize that there are actually resources available from the U.S. Census Bureau and Commerce Department that can help them to understand market movement.
These resources can help you to make data-driven decisions about your company's export potential, which foreign markets would be most receptive to your products and which markets may be worth withdrawing from in the long term.
The data offered by the Census Bureau and Commerce Department can be intensely enlightening. For example, did you know that American exports topped $2.3 trillion in 2013, or that that amount toppled the previous year's record-setting $2.2 trillion?
In 2013, the U.S. did most of its international trade and business with Canada, Mexico and China, which is not unusual. What is notable is that between 2012 and 2013, Monaco, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea and French Guinea increased their U.S. imports by 1,818 percent, 254 percent, 225 percent and 202 percent, respectively.
Every month, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Commerce Department release detailed information like the aforementioned numbers to help international commerce businesses like yours to find large markets and emerging markets. The information covers more than 9,000 export commodities, 18,000 import commodities and every recognized country in the world.
You can easily use this information to identify the global marketplace for your product. From there, you can use the data to determine the markets that would be most receptive to your product so that you can earmark them and monitor them before you expand your business. Go to http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ to access these reports.
USA Trade Online is another invaluable resource for monitoring trading trends and market outlook by country and product. It also allows you to look at current and historic trends for U.S. import and export. This data is crucial when you are trying to determine where there is a market for your goods. As a caveat, USA Trade Online is a paid service. However, the site is currently offering free trials so that you can get a feel for its value.
You can also grow your international trade business by investing in Long Island warehouse space with Islip Foreign Trade Zone #52. There are many benefits to importing certain types of merchandise into a FTZ, including not having to go through formal customs entry procedures and not having to pay import duties.