WTO
Statistical data sets - Metadata
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WTO statistical data sets |
Period availability |
Release date |
Next update |
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1948-2010 |
October 2011 |
April 2012 |
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1980-2010 |
October 2011 |
October 2012 |
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2000-2010 |
October 2011 |
October 2012 |
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2000-2010 |
October 2011 |
October 2012 |
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Breakdown
of "Other commercial services" |
1980-2010 2000-2010 |
October 2011 |
April 2012 |
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1981-2010 |
October 2011 |
April 2012 |
II. General information on data
(i) Minor discrepancies between constituent figures and totals are
due to rounding;
(ii) All value figures are expressed in
(iii) Trade figures include the intra-trade of free trade areas,
customs unions, regional and other country groupings;
(iv) Data for the latest year are provisional.
Time series notes -
Category description
|
Name |
Description |
|
Coverage |
Information on geographical coverage, on
commodity coverage and on the inclusion of special trade zones (e.g.
processing zones). |
|
Trade system |
Specifies any deviation from the default
"General trade" system. |
|
Method of valuation |
Identifies import values reported on a
free on board (f.o.b.) basis. |
Extracting intra-trade or
extra-trade time series
- To
get extra-trade values for a
selected regional integration agreement, select the partner "Extra-trade". For example,
when NAFTA is selected within the "Selected regional integration
agreement" data set, choose the partner "Extra-trade" to get
NAFTA extra-trade.
- To
get intra-trade values for a
selected regional integration agreement, choose as partner the same group as
for the reporter. For example, choose NAFTA as reporter and as partner to get
its intra-trade values.
Value flag codes
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Code
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Name
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B |
Break in data continuity. Data beginning with the highlighted year do
not form a consistent series with those from earlier years. |
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E |
WTO estimate. |
III. Composition of reporter and partner groups
South and Central America (including the Caribbean): Antigua and Barbuda,
Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Bolivia Plurinational State of, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras,
Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts
and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad
and Tobago, Uruguay and other territories in the region not elsewhere specified.
Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and other
territories in the region not elsewhere specified.
The
Africa, of which North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco and
Tunisia; and Sub-Saharan Africa comprising: Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Togo; Central Africa: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Rwanda, and Sao Tome and Principe; Eastern
Africa: Comoros, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan,
Tanzania and Uganda; and Southern Africa:
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa,
Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe ; and other territories in the region not elsewhere specified.
The
Asia, of which West Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and East
Asia (including Oceania): Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China,
Fiji, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (Hong Kong, China),
Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Macau China,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Republic of Korea, Samoa, Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen
and Matsu (Taipei, Chinese), Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and other territories in the region not elsewhere specified.
III. 2 Regional
integration agreements
ANDEAN (Andean Community):
ASEAN (Association of
CACM (Central American
Common Market): Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market): Antigua and Barbuda,
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica,
Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
CEMAC (Economic and
Monetary Community of
COMESA (Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa): Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
ECCAS (Economic
Community of Central African States): Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome
and Principe.
ECOWAS (Economic
Community of West African States): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
EFTA (European Free Trade
Association):
EU15 (European Union 15):
EU25 (European Union 25): Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovak
Republic, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
EU27 (European Union 27): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
GCC (Gulf Cooperation
Council):
MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market):
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement):
SAARC (South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation)/SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trade
Agreement):
SADC (Southern African
Development Community): Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
WAEMU (West African
Economic and Monetary
III. 3 Other reporter and partner groups
ACP (Africa, Caribbean
and Pacific Countries): Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad,
Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Côte d'Ivoire,
Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana,
Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, Namibia,
Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and
Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South
Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Tonga,
Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation): Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic
of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines,
Russian Federation, Singapore, Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu,
Kinmen and Matsu (Taipei, Chinese), Thailand, United States of America and Viet
Nam.
Least-developed countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho,
Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar,
Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen and Zambia.
Four East Asian traders:
Six East Asian traders: Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Republic of
Korea, Singapore, Separate Customs Territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Taipei,
Chinese), and Thailand.
III.
4 Disclaimer
The word "reporter" refers to a
"country" or "customs territory" that reports trade flows
with its partners by origin and destination.
WTO members are frequently
referred to as "country", although some members are not countries in
the usual sense of the word but are officially "customs territories".
The definition of geographical and other groupings in this report does not imply
an expression of opinion by the Secretariat concerning the status of any
country or territory, the delimitation of its frontiers, nor on the rights and
obligations of any WTO Member in respect of WTO Agreements.
South and Central America and the Caribbean
is referred to South and Central America, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
the Republic of Korea and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu,
Kinmen and Matsu are referenced as Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela, Korea,
Republic of and Taipei, Chinese respectively.
All product groups are defined
according to Revision 3 of the Standard International Trade Classification
(SITC).
IV.1 Primary
products
(i) Agricultural products (SITC
sections 0, 1, 2, 4 minus 27 and 28)
- Food: food and live animals, beverages and tobacco, animal and
vegetable oils, fats and waxes, oilseeds and oleaginous fruit (SITC sections 0,
1, 4 and division 22), of which:
-- Fish (SITC division 03), and
-- Other food products and live animals, beverages and tobacco, animal and
vegetable oils, fats and waxes, oilseeds and oleaginous fruit (SITC
sections 0, 1, 4 and division 22 less division 03).
- Raw
materials: hides, skins and furskins, raw, crude rubber (including
synthetic and reclaimed), cork and wood, pulp and waste paper, textile fibres
and their wastes, crude animal and vegetable materials, n.e.s. (SITC divisions
21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29).
(ii) Fuels and mining products
- Ores
and other minerals: crude fertilizers (other than those classified in
chemicals) and crude minerals, metalliferous ores and metal scrap (SITC
divisions 27, 28).
- Fuels:
(SITC section 3).
- Non-ferrous
metals: (SITC division 68).
IV.2
Manufactures: (SITC sections 5,
6, 7, 8 minus division 68 and group 891)
(i) Iron and steel: (SITC division 67).
(ii) Chemicals: (SITC section 5), of which:
- Pharmaceuticals (SITC division 54), and
- Other chemicals: organic chemicals (SITC division 51), plastics (SITC
divisions 57, 58), inorganic chemicals (SITC division 52), other chemicals
n.e.s. (SITC divisions 53, 55, 56, 59).
(iii) Other semi-manufactures: leather, leather manufactures, n.e.s., and
dressed furskins, rubber manufactures, n.e.s., cork and wood manufactures
(excluding furniture), paper, paperboard and articles of paper pulp, of paper
or of paperboard, non-metallic mineral manufactures, n.e.s., manufactures of
metals, n.e.s. (SITC divisions 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 69).
(iv) Machinery and transport equipment: (SITC section 7), of which:
- Office and telecommunications equipment: office machines and
automatic data processing machines, telecommunications and sound recording and
reproducing apparatus and equipment, thermionic, cold cathode or photo-cathode
valves and tubes (SITC divisions 75, 76 and group 776), of which:
-- Electronic data processing and office equipment (SITC division 75),
-- Telecommunications equipment (SITC division 76), and
-- Integrated circuits, and electronic components (SITC group 776).
- Transport equipment (SITC group 713, sub-group 7783, groups 78 and
79), of which:
-- Automotive products: motor cars and other motor vehicles
principally designed for the transport of persons (other than public transport
type vehicles) including station wagons and racing cars, motor vehicles for the
transport of goods and special purpose motor vehicles, road motor vehicles,
n.e.s., parts and accessories of motor vehicles and tractors, internal
combustion piston engines for vehicles listed above, electrical equipment,
n.e.s., for internal combustion engines and vehicles, and parts thereof (SITC
groups 781, 782, 783, 784, and subgroups 7132, 7783), and
-- Other transport equipment: railway vehicles, aircraft, spacecraft,
ships and boats, and associated parts and equipment, motorcycles and cycles,
motorized and non-motorized, trailers and semi-trailers, other vehicles (not
mechanically propelled), and specially designed and equipped transport
containers, internal combustion piston engines for aircraft, and parts thereof,
n.e.s., internal combustion piston engines, marine propulsion, internal
combustion piston engines, n.e.s., parts, n.e.s., for internal combustion
piston engines listed above (SITC division 79, groups 713, 785, 786 minus
sub-group 7132).
- Other machinery (SITC divisions 71, 72, 73, 74, 77 minus groups
713, 776 and minus sub-group 7783), of which:
-- Power generating machinery: power generating machinery and
equipment minus internal combustion piston engines and parts thereof, n.e.s.
(SITC division 71 minus group 713),
-- Non-electrical machinery: machinery specialized for particular
industries, metalworking machinery, general industrial machinery and equipment,
n.e.s., and machine parts, n.e.s. (SITC divisions 72, 73, 74), and
-- Electrical machinery: electrical machinery, apparatus and
appliances, n.e.s., and electrical parts thereof, minus thermionic, cold
cathode or photo-cathode valves and tubes, minus electrical equipment, n.e.s.,
for internal combustion piston engines and parts thereof, n.e.s. (SITC division
77 minus group 776 and subgroup 7783).
(v) Textiles: (SITC division 65).
(vi) Clothing: (SITC division 84).
(vii) Other manufactures: (SITC divisions 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 89
excluding group 891), of which:
- Personal and household goods: furniture (SITC division 82), travel
goods (SITC division 83) and footwear (SITC division 85),
- Scientific and controlling instruments (SITC division 87), and
- Miscellaneous manufactures: instruments and apparatus, photography,
optical goods, watches and clocks, toys and games, and other manufactured
articles, n.e.s. (SITC divisions 81, 88, 89 minus group 891).
IV. 3 Other
products:
commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere (including gold), arms
and ammunition (SITC section 9 and group 891).
It should be noted that other
food products and live animals, beverages and tobacco, animal and vegetable
oils, fats and waxes, oilseeds and oleaginous fruit are referred to as other
food products, electronic data processing and office equipment is referred to
as EDP and office equipment, and integrated circuits and electronic components
is referred to as integrated circuits.
V. Definitions
and methods by data set
Merchandise exports and imports
Two systems of recording
merchandise exports and imports are in common use. They are referred to as general trade and special trade and differ mainly in the way warehoused and re-exported
goods are treated. General trade figures are larger than the corresponding
special trade figures because the latter exclude certain trade flows, such as
goods shipped through bonded warehouses.
To the extent possible, total
merchandise trade is defined according to the general trade definition. It
covers all types of inward and outward movement of goods through a country or
territory including movements through customs warehouses and free zones. Goods
include all merchandise that either add to or reduce the stock of material
resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the country's
economic territory. For further explanations, see United Nations International
Trade Statistics, Concepts and Definitions, Series M, No
52, Revision 2.
Unless otherwise indicated,
exports are valued at transaction value, including the cost of transportation
and insurance to bring the merchandise to the frontier of the exporting country
or territory ("free on board" valuation). Unless otherwise indicated,
imports are valued at transaction value plus the cost of transportation and
insurance to the frontier of the importing country or territory ("Cost
insurance and freight" valuation).
Re-exports and re-imports
It should be noted that due to
the use of the general system for recording merchandise trade statistics,
re-exports are included in total merchandise trade. However, in the case of
Specific notes for selected economies
Merchandise trade statistics of the European Union
Beginning with the 2002
report, EU data compiled according to national statistical practices have been
replaced, starting 1993, with data compiled by Eurostat in accordance with EU
legislation. The concepts and definitions adopted by the EU are in line with
the United Nations’ International Trade Statistics, Concepts and Definitions,
Series M, N° 52, Revision 2. As a result, the conceptual differences between EU
member states’ data have been substantially reduced. Moreover, for the EU as a
whole, Eurostat data are more timely than the previous
source, thus reducing substantially the amount of estimation included in the EU
aggregate. Since January 1993, statistics on the trade between the member states of the EU have been collected through the
“Intrastat” system (see GATT 1994, International Trade Trends and Statistics).
The coverage of this system, which relies on reports submitted by firms for
transactions above a minimum value, is not as wide as the previous one, which
was based on customs declarations. This is particularly noticeable on the
import side. For example, prior to the adoption of the Intrastat
system, reported intra-EU imports (c.i.f.) closely matched reported intra-EU
exports (f.o.b.). However, from 1993 onwards, the reported value of intra-EU
imports has been on average around 3 per cent lower than the value of intra-EU
exports, indicating a substantial under-reporting of intra-EU imports. As a
result of this inconsistency, the Secretariat has substituted intra-EU exports
data for intra-EU imports at the aggregate EU level when estimating regional
and world totals. However, this adjustment is not allocated between EU member
countries. Hence, the sum of reported imports of individual EU members does not
add to the figure for EU imports as a whole. This adjustment is also reflected
in the volume estimates for the EU as a whole.
Merchandise trade of
Major breaks in data continuity
Beginning 2003,
Beginning 2008,
With respect to the
Merchandise trade flows
between the European Union member States include trade associated with
fraudulent VAT declaration, which concerns mainly office and telecommunications
equipment. Between 2006 and 2007, intra-EU merchandise trade statistics have
been particularly affected by a considerable reduction in this fraudulent trade
in the
V. 2 Merchandise trade by commodity
Product data are generally
sourced from UNSD Comtrade and Eurostat. Only selected products specified in Section IV are
available.
The sum of agricultural products,
mining products and manufactures does not add up to total merchandise due to
unspecified products.
V. 3 Network of world merchandise trade
The world merchandise trade network by product and region
is based on export data. It is constructed in the following way:
First, total merchandise exports from each of the seven
regions are aggregated from individual country figures.
Next, the total merchandise exports of each region are
distributed by destination and then by product. The regional and commodity
breakdown is based on UNSD Comtrade
database, EUROSTAT, national statistics and Secretariat estimates.
It should be noted that World,
The network
is only available for selected product aggregates and regional groupings
(see below).
Principal adjustments
The principal adjustments to the figures are as follows:
(i) Exports of ships to the open registry countries
Panama and Liberia are reallocated from each region's exports to Latin America
and Africa to "unspecified destinations" (a category not shown separately),
(ii)
(iii) Exports of non-monetary gold, where known, are
included. When they cannot be broken down by destination, they are allocated to
"unspecified destinations",
(iv)
(v) Estimates for the
V. 4 Trade in commercial services
Depending on the location of the supplier and the
consumer, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) defines four modes
of supply. In addition to the cross-border supply (mode 1), where both the
supplier and the consumer remain in their respective home territories, GATS
also covers cases where consumers are outside their home territory to consume
services (mode 2 – consumption abroad), or cases where service suppliers are in
the territory of the consumers to provide their services, whether by
establishing affiliates through direct investment abroad (mode 3 – commercial
presence), or through the presence of natural persons (mode 4).
A country’s balance of payments, that is the services
account, can be used to derive estimates covering trade in commercial services
for modes 1,2 and 4. The Balance of Payments does
however not include most of the information on the local deliveries of services
through foreign affiliates that is required to estimate the size of mode 3. A
framework for collecting these data, the “Foreign Affiliates Trade in Services
(FATS) statistics”, has been developed and adopted by the international
statistical community in 2002. Further information on these “new” statistics is
available in the International Trade Statistics publication.
Exports and
imports
Exports
(credits or receipts) and imports (debits or payments) of commercial services
derived from statistics on international service transactions are included in
the balance of payments statistics, in conformity with the concepts,
definitions and classification of the fifth (1993) edition of the IMF Balance
of Payments Manual.
Definition of
commercial services in the balance of payments
In the fifth
edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, the current account is subdivided
into goods, services (including government services, n.i.e.), income
(investment income and compensation of employees), and current transfers. The
commercial services category is defined as being equal to services minus
government services, n.i.e. Commercial services is further sub-divided into
transportation services, travel, and other commercial services.
Transportation
Services covers sea,
air and other including land, internal waterway, space and pipeline transport
services that are performed by residents of one economy for those of another, and that involve the carriage of passengers, the
movement of goods (freight), rentals (charters) of carriers with crew, and
related supporting and auxiliary services.
Travel includes goods and services acquired by personal
travellers, for health, education or other purposes, and by business
travellers. Unlike other services, travel is not a specific type of service,
but an assortment of goods and services consumed by travellers. The most common
goods and services covered are lodging, food and beverages, entertainment and
transportation (within the economy visited), gifts and souvenirs.
Other
commercial services corresponds to the following components defined in BPM5:
(i) communications services includes telecommunication,
postal and courier services. Telecommunication services encompasses the
transmission of sound, images or other information by telephone, telex, telegram,
radio and television cable and broadcasting, satellite, electronic mail,
facsimile services etc., including business network services, teleconferencing
and support services. It does not include the value of the information
transported. Also included are cellular telephone services, Internet backbone
services and on-line access services, including provision of access to the
Internet,
(ii) construction
covers work performed on construction projects and installation by employees of
an enterprise in locations outside the territory of the enterprise (the
one-year rule to determine residency is to be applied flexibly). In addition goods used by construction
companies for their projects are included which implies that the
"true" services component tends to be overestimated,
(iii) insurance services covers the provision
of various types of insurance to non residents by resident insurance
enterprises, and vice versa, for example, freight insurance, direct insurance
(e.g. life) and reinsurance,
(iv) financial services covers financial
intermediation and auxiliary services provided by banks, stock exchanges,
factoring enterprises, credit card enterprises, and other enterprises,
(v) computer and information services is subdivided into
computer services (hardware and software related services and data processing
services), news agency services (provision of news, photographs, and feature
articles to the media), and other information provision services (database
services and web search portals),
(vi) royalties and licence fees, covering
payments and receipts for the use of intangible non-financial assets and
proprietary rights, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial
processes, and franchises,
(vii) other business services, comprising
trade-related services, operational leasing (rentals), and miscellaneous
business, professional and technical services such as legal, accounting,
management consulting, public relations services, advertising, market research
and public opinion polling, research and development services, architectural,
engineering, and other technical services, agricultural, mining and on-site
processing,
(viii) personal, cultural, and recreational services is
subdivided into two categories, (i) audiovisual services and (ii) other
cultural and recreational services. The
first component includes services and fees related to the production of motion
pictures, radio and television programmes, and musical recordings. Other personal, cultural, and recreational services
includes services such as those associated with museums, libraries, archives,
and other cultural, sporting, and recreational activities.
Coverage and
comparability
With the implementation of BPM5, the coverage and
comparability of services trade data have improved over time,
however, given that these improvements have been made gradually, they also
resulted in a number of breaks in series and are subject to significant
distortions.
First, some countries do not collect statistics for
certain service categories. Second, some service transactions are simply not
registered. If central bank records are used, situations where no financial
intermediaries are employed are not counted. In the case of surveys, the
coverage of trading establishments is often incomplete. A particularly serious
problem is that services transmitted electronically are frequently unregistered
as well as when the transactions take place within multinational corporations.
Third, statistics may be reported on a net rather than on a gross basis, often
as a result of compensation arrangements such as in rail transport or in
communication services. Fourth some services transactions may be difficult to
capture. It is often easier for compilers to collect more complete and reliable
information on trade in services exports rather than on imports given the large
number and diversity of importers compared to that of exporters, e.g. financial
services, computer services. Fifth, some particular service transactions may
not be classified to the appropriate BPM5 services classification.
Methodologies to build estimates for certain service categories may also differ
between economies, notably due to the continuing efforts to improve these
statistics. Some economies have made progress in the estimation of insurance
services to take into account premium supplements and claim volatility (i.e. in
the case of catastrophic events). Sixth, the alternate sources used for
countries which are not members of the IMF do not necessarily comply with the
IMF concepts and definitions. Seventh, misclassification of transactions may
lead to an underestimation of commercial services when service transactions are
registered as income, transfers or trade in merchandise rather than trade in
services or, conversely, to an overestimation of commercial services when
transactions pertaining to income, transfers or official transactions are
registered in the private service categories.
Specific notes for selected economies
Intra-trade of the European Union
The principal source for trade in
commercial services are the IMF’s Balance-of-Payments statistics.
Intra-EU trade figures have been estimated from statistics included in the New
Cronos database, July 2010.
Trade in services of the United States
Over recent years the United States Bureau of Economic
Analysis has continuously improved its trade in commercial services estimates.
In 2010, the
In 2008, the United States started to compile trade in
commercial services covering affiliated as well as unaffiliated trade for
individual services items (previously affiliated trade data for a number of
other commercial services items where grouped under a single heading in US
statistics). A number of changes in terms of content were also introduced.
Beginning with 2006 and continuing with 2007 surveys of transactions in
selected services and transactions in financial services, transactions with
affiliated and unaffiliated persons are collected on the same form and in the
same detail. This in particular reduces the potential for duplicate reporting
or omissions. It is important to note that given this major revision, some time
series were significantly revised and for some other detailed services items,
including both affiliated and non affiliated trade, data are not available
prior to 2006.Another major revision was introduced in 2003, when the
Travel exports and transportation services exports and
imports of Japan
In order to enhance the coverage of estimates of travel
exports and imports, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese Ministry of Finance
reviewed their compilation methodology, notably by including results from a new
expenditure survey of foreign travellers as of 2003. This revision had a major
impact on the estimates for travel exports. This methodology was reviewed in
2007 based on the results of a new survey (International Travelers’ Survey on
Expenditures) which are used in the new compilation method to directly estimate
the amounts spent by travelers to pay for goods and services. This applies to
exports and imports data as from 2006. In order to maintain consistent growth
rates, data shown in this report for Japanese 1995-2005 travel trade and trade
in commercial services include provisional Secretariat estimates referring to
the new compilation methodology (i.e. after January 2006) applied by the
Japanese authorities and therefore they differ from 1995-2005 figures available
elsewhere. As from 2009,
Trade in other commercial services of
In the course of 2004, the Reserve Bank of
The data for
Trade in commercial services of United Arab Emirates
Commercial services trade statistics of
Trade in commercial services of
New data from 2005 compiled on the basis of BPM5
recommendations were released by the Bank of Nigeria in 2007. This results in a
break in series for Nigerian data in 2005.
Trade in commercial services of
In 2006 the Reserve Bank of
Trade in other commercial services of
New data compiled from 2004 for other commercial services
items, resulting in a break in series for that year.
Trade in other commercial services of Oman
In 2008 new data compiled (new national data from new
survey of corporate firms in 2007) for other commercial services items,
resulting in a break in series for 2005 for exports and 2003 for imports.
Trade in commercial services of the Islamic
Starting with 2004,
Trade in commercial services of the
New data are compiled from 2005 according to BPM5
principles. Prior to 2008 a number of items (e.g. financial services, other business
services) were still not all classified according to the BPM5 definitions and
some items were received net.
Trade in financial services
For
For
V. 5 Merchandise
trade indices
The volume indices and the
deflators (i.e. price indices or unit values) are taken from a range of
different international and national sources. The reported deflators and volume
indices may not always be available for the most recent years or may differ in
product coverage from the corresponding value indices.
Aggregation of the indices to
obtain a world total is a two-tier process. First,
export and import deflators from national and international sources are
complemented with Secretariat estimates for missing data. They are then
aggregated to obtain regional totals. The volume index for each region is
obtained by dividing the respective trade value index for each region by the corresponding
regional deflator. Second, the total world merchandise
volume index is obtained by deflating the world trade value with the aggregate
of regional deflators. Throughout the aggregation process trade values of the
previous year are used as weights.
V. 6 Selected
regional integration agreements
Refer to
the composition in the regional integration agreements.
Data are
only available for selected product aggregates.
Most frequently used sources are:
EUROSTAT,
Comext and on-line databases
FAO, Production Yearbook
FAO, FAOSTAT Agriculture database
GTIS, Global Trade
Atlas database
IMF, Balance of Payments Statistics
IMF, International Financial Statistics
IMF, World Economic Outlook database
OECD, Main Economic
Indicators
OECD, Measuring
Globalisation: The Role of Multinationals in OECD Economies
OECD, Monthly
Statistics of International Trade
OECD, National
Accounts
OECD, Statistics on
International Trade in Services
OECD/IEA, Energy
Prices & Taxes
UNECE,
Economic Survey of
UNECLAC,
Overview of the Economies of
UNIDO,
National Accounts Statistics Database
UNSD, Comtrade database (for OECD members the
UNSD-OECD Joint Trade Data Collection and Processing system)
UNSD, International Trade Statistics Yearbook
UNSD, Monthly Bulletin of Statistics
UNSD,
Servicetrade database
World Bank, World
Development Indicators
These sources are supplemented by national publications,
other international databases and Secretariat estimates.
Figures for total merchandise trade are largely derived
from IMF, International Financial
Statistics. Data on merchandise trade by origin, destination and product
are mainly obtained from Eurostat's Comext database, GTIS' Global Trade Atlas
database and UNSD's Comtrade database. Some inconsistencies in the aggregate
export and import data for the same country or territory between the two
sources are inevitable. These can be attributed to the use of different systems
of recording trade, to the way in which IMF and UNSD have converted data
expressed in national currencies into dollars, and revisions which can be more
readily incorporated in the IMF data.
Statistics on trade in commercial services are mainly
drawn from the IMF, Balance of Payments
Statistics. Data for European Union members, EU candidate and EU observer
countries as well as the EU(27) aggregate are drawn
from Eurostat on-line database from 2004. For other economies that do not
report to the IMF (e.g. Chinese Taipei) data are drawn from national sources.
Estimations for missing data are mainly based on national statistics.
Statistics on trade in commercial services by origin and destination are also
derived from national statistics.
Acknowledgements are due to
the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Trade Information Services,
Inc. (GTIS), the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development, the Statistical Office of the European Communities,
the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Statistics
Division, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the World
Intellectual Property Organization and the World Bank whose assistance in
supplying advance information has greatly facilitated the work of the
Secretariat. Acknowledgements are also due to national institutions for
providing advance statistics.