The following is excerpted from the 20 January 2012 edition of The Globe and Mail.

Currency traders love the monthly import and export data, which provide an excellent guide of how much demand exists for dollars, euros, yen, francs and the like.

But for anyone seeking a more precise understanding of the dynamics of international trade, the data compiled by customs agents are about as about as relevant to a modern economy as carbon paper...

This article is available in its entirety at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/da...

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