I'm reading the U.S. Census Bureau report from October [0] and I can't for the life of me figure out where these numbers are coming from, they seem to be flat out wrong.<p>Using NAICS product categories the "top 5" through October appear to be:<p>1) Transportation Equipment - 164.79 billion<p>2) Chemicals - 156.7 billion<p>3) Non-Electrical Machinery - 118.4 billion<p>4) Computers and Electrical Products - 102.4 billion<p>5) Petroleum and Coal Products - 81.26 billion<p>Am I reading this report wrong?<p>[0] <a href="http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_pr...</a>
This is a very recent trend reversal. An earlier story I saw in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal discussed some of the background to the very large recent increase in exports from the United States to other countries of refined petroleum products that count as "fuel." Some more current stories<p><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0103-fuel-exports-20111231,0,366760.story" rel="nofollow">http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0103-fuel-expo...</a><p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-31/united-states-export/52298812/1" rel="nofollow">http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-1...</a><p><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/the-2011-argus-americas-crude-summit-held-in-houston-last-januarywas-named-life-after-macondo-it-was-focused-almost-entire.html" rel="nofollow">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/the-2011-ar...</a><p><a href="http://www.ogj.com/articles/2011/12/market-watch-oil-makes-small-gains-gas-price-continues-decline.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ogj.com/articles/2011/12/market-watch-oil-makes-s...</a><p>give more background on the rise in United States fuel exports and when the trend became apparent to federal government energy policy officials.