The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol collect data for all commercial shipments of goods between the United States (including Puerto Rico) and foreign countries. In addition, data is collected for all commercial shipments of goods between Puerto Rico and the United States (including to the U.S. Virgin Islands). The U.S. Census Bureau uses this information for statistical purposes. For these purposes, it prepares detailed statistics on the foreign trade of goods in the economy of the United States and Puerto Rico, which it puts up for sale. The Government of Puerto Rico, through the Institute of Statistics, obtains this information, and based on this information it prepares a file with all the data on Puerto Rico's exports, and another with the imports. This is made available to the public free of charge, through a variety of means, including summary tables and a web interface to tabulate data as required by the user. Finally, through its open data platform, the Institute makes these databases available to all users. In some cases, the data has been available since 2002, and a project is currently under way to extend the database to 1992. For previous posts, visit: Selected Foreign Trade Statistics of the Planning Board.

Explanatory note: Every year, the census reviews data for the last 3 years and is published in the month of July. For example, in July 2022, revised data for 2019, 2020 and 2021 were released.

‍