Trade
Batty is a Functions for the Market editor at Bloomberg in London.Track the Extent of
Economic Damage From
Coronavirus
In U.S. Import Data
By JAMES BATTY
TRADE BETWEEN THE world’s two largest economies fell to the
lowest level in years in February as the coronavirus outbreak stalled
Chinese factories.
U.S. imports from China that month totaled 4.2 million metric
tons, according to IHS Markit data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s
the smallest tonnage of goods since 2015, when the dataset begins.
February marked the peak of coronavirus cases in China.
Although the number of new cases there declined after mid-
February, the outbreak hit the country’s trade in the first two
months of the year. In January and February, China’s exports
dropped 17.2% in dollar terms from the same period a year ago,
according to a statement from Chinese customs published on
March 7. That was a bigger decline than economists had expected.
Bills of lading filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection
show import volumes into the country from all its trade partners.
To dig into the data on the Bloomberg terminal, start by typing
“US bills of lading” in the command line and select AHOY USBOL –
Global Commodities Trade Flows: US Customs Bills of Lading from
autocomplete. (The shortcut is {AHOY USBOL
Metric tons in the View drop-down and By Monthly farther along
that row. In the next row, choose Import in the first drop-down,
then China, Any Padd, and Any State.
Select the radio button for Data if it isn’t already selected,
and the monthly totals will be displayed across the top of the table.
U.S. imports from China were 4,201,395.35 metric tons in February.
That’s the lowest since the beginning of 2015 and 17% lower than
last February.
To graph the data, click on the radio button for Chart. Click
the Line option above the Chart (FIG. 1). The next lowest monthly
readings had previously come in March 2016 and March 2019.TO FURTHER ANALYZE the data in Microsoft Excel, first set the Date
Range to 01/01/19 to 02/29/20 and hit <GO>. Click the Export
button in the red toolbar. In the worksheet that opens up, find the
columns for 02/29/20 and 02/28/19. Delete all the other columns,
apart from the description column, and create a new one called
“% Change.” Insert this formula to calculate the change:
“=(B3-C3)/C3” and press <GO>. Click into the cell again and press
Ctrl-Shift-% to style the number as a percentage. Then auto-
populate the rest of the column by dragging the square icon in the
bottom right of that cell to the bottom of the list of data.
Next, turn the cells into a table. Select all the rows of data.
Click on the Insert tab, select Table, and press OK in the window
that appears. Click the % Change column header and sort by
Smallest to Largest (FIG. 2). Of the 98 categories in this list, 38 are
lower than the year-ago level. The largest drops were recorded in
the meat and cotton sectors, both of which were about 75% lower.
Ores, Slag and Ash; Apparel Not Knit; and Leather Good, Saddlery,
Handbags imports dropped roughly 50%.
Back on the terminal screen, extend out the time period by
putting 01/01/15 as the start date. Hit <GO>, then uncheck the
Total box, scroll down, and select Meat (02) and Cotton (52) to
chart historical data for the categories. Both were at lows for this
period (FIG. 3).26