*** U.S. Exports, Schedule B by Country, 1972-1977**



Description:



For 1972-1977, exports to the United States at a disaggregate level

were measured according to the Schedule B classification.  These

datafiles contain the U.S. export data according to Schedule B number,

distinguished by destination country, and including both quantitative

information about exports and descriptive information about each commodity.



The files EXPYR_1.ASC, EXPYR_2.ASC, EXPYR_3.ASC and EXPYR_4.ASC contain U.S.

export data for 1972-1977, sorted by Schedule B number, with YR = {a two digit

number in the range 72-77}.  The first of these files, EXPYR_1.ASC, includes

commodities with a Sched. B number beginning with 0-5; the second,

EXPYR_2.ASC, contains those commodities with a Sched. B number beginning

with 6; the third, EXPYR_3.ASC, contains those commodities with a

Sched. B number beginning with 7; and the fourth, EXPYR_4.ASC contains

those commodities with a Sched. B number beginning with 8-9.





Record Layout:



The variables included are:



columns 1-7     -  Schedule B number

columns 9-14    -  Country code

                    United Nations codes are used (see COUNTRY.TXT)

columns 16-23   -  Country name

columns 25-29   -  Revision 1 SITC number (5 digit)

columns 31-38   -  1972 export-based SIC number (8 digit)

columns 40-42   -  Units of quantity (see UNIT7288.TXT)

columns 44-54   -  Quantity

columns 56-65   -  Value of exports (dollars)

columns 67-96   -  Description of Schedule B commodity

                    (uses first 20 characters of Description in CONEXP72_77.ASC)

columns 98-99   -  Year



Missing and Imputed Values:



Missing values for any alphabetic variable are indicated by a blank field,

as occurs especially for the Units of quantity, indicating that either the

units could not be measured, or were simply missing.  When the units could

not be measured, there will be a zero value for Quantity, but positive

entries for Value.





Special Considerations:



The 1972 export-based SIC numbers are not the same as the SIC numbers

used to identify U.S. industries.  This is because industries in the

United States are sometimes defined in terms of the precessing that occurs

in them, whereas the method of processing may not be known to the

exporter.  As a result, a condensed set of SIC numbers called "export

based SIC" are used, and these are included in the EXP*.ASC files.



It should be noted that the Schedule B numbers for any commodity change

over time, so the only sure way to keep track of a given commodity is by

its full alphabetic description.



The Schedule B numbers used in these files for 1972-1977 differ

very substantially from the Schedule B numbers used after 1977,

even though they are referred to by the same name.  The Schedule B

numbers for 1972-1977 are similar to those used for the SITC,

Revision 1; whereas the Schedule B numbers for 1978-1988 are similar

to those used in the Tarriff Schedules of the United States.





Related Files:



The file CONEXP72_77.ASC contains a complete list of the Schedule B numbers

for 1972-1977, along with various information about that commodity.



The source country for each exported commodity is identified by the

name and United Nations (UN) code.  The complete list of names and

UN codes, along with a correspondence to the country codes used by

the U.S. Census, is provided in COUNTRY.TXT.





Size:  Each file EXP*.ASC is between 3 and 7 megabytes



Sources:



The data for 1972-1977 were obtained from:



National Archives and Record Administration, Annual Export Databank,

EA622, Record group 29, Washington, D.C. [magnetic tapes], 1972-1977.



The same data are reported in printed form in:



U.S. Foreign Trade, Exports, Commodity by Country, Schedule B, FT410, Bureau

of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1972-1977.



Additional information on the variables listed above can be obtained from:



Guide to Foreign Trade Statistics, Bureau of the Census, Department

of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1983.