by Calculated Risk on 7/12/2005 06:39:00 PM

Once again, I've only modeled Oil and China, although I've added exports for Oil. Hopefully I will add more in the future. Here is a review of last month's predictions.

PROJECTIONS:
I: For petroleum, I project that NSA petroleum trade imports will be $18.7 Billion, down from $18.9 Billion in April. Including petroleum exports and adjusting for seasonal effects, the SA oil balance for May is projected at $15.5 Billion. This compares to $17.2 Billion for April.

II: For China, I project (see bottom) a NSA deficit of $15.5 Billion for May compared to $14.7 Billion in April. SA this is $16.1 Billion vs. $15.5 Billion for April.

III. OVERALL: I haven't developed a method for predicting the deficit for other countries, but based on Oil and China I think the deficit in May might improve slightly from April's deficit of $57 Billion. Oil will be about $1.7 Billion less in May (than April) and China approximately $0.6 Billion more.

My Guess (not enough work to call it a projection / estimate): $56.5 Billion Deficit.

NOTE: I expect June to be significantly worse than May.


CHINA: The following is the estimate for trade with China based on this methodology.

CHINA TRADE BALANCE: Table numbers in Billions $

NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

MONTH	NSA Balance	NSA Exports	NSA Imports
February	-$13.9	$3.08	$16.95
March	-$12.9	$3.3	$16.21
April	-$14.7	$3.4	$18.12
May	-$15.5(est)	$3.4(est)	$18.9(est)

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED (all estimates)

MONTH	SA Balance	SA Exports	SA Imports
February	-$18.1	$3.08	$21.19
March	-$15.1	$3.3	$18.42
April	-$15.5	$3.4	$18.88
May	-$16.1(est)	$3.4(est)	$19.5(est)