Context

The coronavirus has presented unique challenges to supply chains worldwide. As cities and states rise to meet challenges its important to know where critical items are produced and to try and understand the impact of these closures on the US supply chain. This can be especially important at the moment with regards to manufacturing capabilities related to medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Content

"**The survey is the primary source of national and state-level data on domestic freight shipments by establishments in mining, manufacturing, wholesale, auxiliaries, and selected retail and services trade industries located in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. **The survey produces estimates on the type, origin and destination, value, weight, modes of transportation, distance shipped, and ton-miles of commodities shipped. The CFS is conducted every five years as part of the Economic Census. It provides a modal picture of national freight flows, and represents the only publicly available source of commodity flow data for the highway mode. The CFS was conducted in 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007 and most recently in 2012."

"To protect the confidentiality of CFS respondents, the CFS uses noise-infusion when producing estimates of shipment value and shipment weight. Details relating to this disclosure avoidance technique may be found on the CFS website at www.census.gov/econ/cfs/2012_methodology.html along with information on the survey coverage, sampling, mileage calculation, and estimation methodologies."

Read more: https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2012/econ/cfs/2012-pums-files.html

Acknowledgements

The Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) is a joint effort by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. Special thanks to James Hinckley and Christian Moscardi

The 2012 CFS PUM file is an experimental data product and the Census Bureau solicits user feedback to continue to enhance its usefulness. If you have any questions or feedback you would like to provide us, please contact the Commodity Flow Branch staff by e-mail at ERD.CFS@census.gov or by phone at (301) 763-2108.

Inspiration

Data could be used to evaluate economic impacts from commodity flow to and from cities under quarantine orders. This data could also be used to proxy the local production capacities of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals and also the areas that import these items.