Everything containerised that enters the 8 major US gateways, sorted by what it is — 98 customs chapters, of which the 24 below carry most of the weight. This page tells the commodity story in four pictures; claims link to ruled studies in the Event Atlas, and every chapter has its own page at the end. Latest month: May 2026.
Two chapters tie for first place at ~14 million tonnes a year each — but they could not be less alike: plastics ($34B a year) and machinery ($138B). Furniture and electronics follow. The last twelve months:
Containerised import weight and customs value, trailing 12 months. Bars share one scale.
A container of knit apparel is worth 58 times a container of salt. The top and bottom of the ladder, dollars per kilogram:
Customs value per kilogram, trailing 12 months — the five most valuable chapters and the four cheapest.
Since 2018, the standout is plastics: 1.67× its 2018 weight — the biggest rise of any heavyweight chapter, on 14 million tonnes a year — with bakery goods and construction earths growing slightly faster from far smaller bases. Primary iron & steel (0.77×), fresh fruit and footwear shrank. Trade in things America eats and wraps grew; trade in what it builds with, less so.
In 2018 China supplied the outright majority of America’s containerised furniture (71%), glass (67%) and electronics (66%). Today it holds a majority in none of the big chapters — electronics has halved to 32%. Where the cargo went: the diversion, ruled. What happened to the value of what still comes: the shrinking invoice, ruled.
By origin instead: US imports by country · by gateway: the 8 container ports · method: how the numbers are made.