Commodity Flow Survey (CFS)

Welcome to the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) home page. This site is designed to help businesses complete the CFS.

The CFS provides data on the movement of goods and services in the United States. The survey collects information on commodities shipped, their value, weight, and mode of transportation, as well as the origin and destination of shipments of commodities from manufacturing, mining, wholesale and selected retail and service establishments. The data from the CFS are used by policy analysts and transportation planners to assess the demand for transportation facilities and services. The CFS is a mandatory survey collected under United States Code, Title 13. In preparation for the 2012 CFS, an advance mailing was conducted January - May 2011 to determine whether selected establishments are engaged in shipping activity.

For the main CFS, respondents will receive one questionnaire for each calendar quarter in 2012. Each sampled establishment will be asked to report on a sample of individual shipments during a predefined one week period in each quarter.