Supply Chain Research

U.S. merchandise trade activity increased by 46.1% year over year in May and by 7.1% compared to May 2019. The performance of the export economy has been highly fragmented. Exports of food and beverages increased by 24.4% in May 2021 versus May 2019 while autos dropped by 17.3% over the same period. The latter may reflect a mixture of component shortages as well as the retention of vehicles for sale in the domestic market to meet strong local demand. Foreign vehicles may have fallen out of favor, with automotive imports including components down by 10.7%. Shipments of cars and light truc...