Low oil price impacts January NAFTA trade values

Lower per barrel prices pushed down the value of crude oil shipped to and from the United States by vessel and pipeline within North America, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.    The total value of cross-border freight between the United States and North American trading partners Canada and Mexico fell 7.7 percent to $82.4 billion in January from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
   The agency said all five transportation modes carried less freight by value in January, with trucking dipping 1.5 percent and rail down 3.5 percent.
   The steep drop in the price of crude oil over the past year played a key role in the large declines in the dollar value of goods shipped by vessel (down 37.3 percent) and pipeline (down 32.7 percent).
   Trucks carry two-thirds of trade between the three free-trade partners, followed by rail at 15 percent.
   Year-over year, the value of U.S.-Canada freight flows fell 12.7 percent to $42.0 billion as all modes of transportation carried a lower value of U.S.-Canada freight in January. 
   Lower crude oil prices contributed to a year-over-year decrease in the value of freight moved between the U.S. and Canada. Crude oil is a large share of freight carried by vessel and pipeline, which were down 42.5 percent and 34.2 percent respectively year-over-year. 
   Trucks carried 60.5 percent of the value of the freight to and from Canada but the total was down 4.0 percent from January 2015 primarily because of a 9.3 percent decline in the value of U.S. exports to Canada by truck. 
   The value of U.S.-Mexico freight fell 1.8 percent to $40.5 billion for the month. Freight carried by rail increased 8.2 percent in value and truck freight value rose 0.7 percent. Vessel freight value decreased 33.8 percent, while pipeline freight dropped 4 percent, both due mainly to lower crude oil prices.