WTO
Statistical data sets - Metadata
I. Data set availability
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II.
General information on data
(i) Minor discrepancies between constituent figures and totals are
due to rounding;
(ii) All value figures are expressed in United States
dollars;
(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
|
Code
|
Name
|
|
B
|
Break in data continuity. Data beginning with the highlighted year do
not form a consistent series with those from earlier years.
|
|
E
|
WTO estimate.
|
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III
. Composition of reporter
and partner groups
III
.
1 Regions
North America: Bermuda
,
Canada
, Mexico
, United States of America
and other territories in the
region
not
elsewhere specified.
South and Central America (including the Caribbean): Antigua and Barbuda,
Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia
Plurinational State of, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaao, 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, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and
Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), 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 Commonwealth
of Independent States
(CIS): Armenia
, Azerbaijan
, Belarus
, Georgia
, Kazakhstan
, Kyrgyz
Republic
, Moldova
, Russian Federation
, Tajikistan
, Turkmenistan
, Ukraine
, Uzbekistan
and other territories in the
region
not
elsewhere specified.
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, Cte 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 Middle East: Bahrain
, Iraq
, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel
, Jordan
, Kuwait
, Lebanon
, Oman
, Qatar
, Saudi Arabia
Kingdom
of, Syrian
Arab
Republic
, United Arab Emirates
, Yemen
and other territories in the
region
not
elsewhere specified.
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)
:
Bolivia
,
Colombia
,
Ecuador
and
Peru
.
ASEAN (Association of South-East
Asia Nations): Brunei
Darussalam
,
Cambodia
, Indonesia
, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Malaysia
, Myanmar
, Philippines
, Singapore
, Thailand
and Viet Nam
.
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 Central Africa): Cameroon
, Central
African Republic
, Chad
, Congo
, Equatorial
Guinea
and Gabon
.
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, Cte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
EFTA (European Free Trade
Association): Iceland
, Liechtenstein
, Norway
and Switzerland
.
EU15 (European Union 15): Austria
, Belgium
, Denmark
, Finland
, France
, Germany
, Greece
, Ireland
, Italy
, Luxembourg
, Netherlands
, Portugal
, Spain
, Sweden
and the United Kingdom
.
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): Bahrain
, Kuwait
, Oman
, Qatar
, Saudi Arabia
and United Arab
Emirates
.
MERCOSUR
(Southern Common Market)
:
Argentina
,
Brazil
,
Paraguay
and
Uruguay
.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement):
Canada
,
Mexico
and the
United States of America
.
SAARC (South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation)/SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trade
Agreement): Bangladesh
, Bhutan
, India
, Maldives
, Nepal
, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka
.
SADC (Southern African
Development Community): Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
WAEMU (West African
Economic and Monetary Union):Benin
, Burkina Faso
, Cte d'Ivoire
, Guinea-Bissau
, Mali
, Niger
, Senegal
and Togo
.
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, Cte 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: Hong Kong
, China, Republic
of Korea, Singapore
and Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu
, Kinmen and Matsu
(Taipei
, Chinese).
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.
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IV. Product definitions
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.
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V. Definitions and
methods by
data set
V. 1 Merchandise
trade
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
Hong-Kong
,
China
the magnitude of its
re-exports (amounting in 2011 to $439 billion), if included in regional or
world aggregates, would introduce a significant element of double counting.
Therefore,
Hong-Kong
,
China
's re-exports are excluded
from the World and
Asia
aggregates.
China
reports imports from
China
(re-imports), a trade flow which accounted for 7.0 per cent ($122.6
billion) of its total merchandise imports in 2011. These imports consist of
products which have been produced in
China
and thereafter temporarily exported. The product structure of
China
's imports from
China
indicates that in absolute terms office and telecom equipment is the
largest category ($68.3 billion) in this particular trade flow. The share of
returned goods is particularly large in the imports of telecommunications
equipment (45.8 per cent),
EDP
and
office equipment (36.5
per cent), electrical machinery (28.0 per cent) and in textiles
(15.8 per cent). Further information on these imports is provided in
Box
2
of the International
Trade Statistics 2005.
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
South Africa
with SACU (South African Customs Union)
South Africa
s merchandise exports (and
imports) exclude shipments to (from) other SACU members (
Botswana
,
Lesotho
,
Namibia
and
Swaziland
). Partner statistics indicate
that South African shipments amount to 85 percent of these countries total
merchandise imports in 2004. This share most likely increased thereafter
and represents an important trade flow for the African region. If
South Africa
s exports would be adjusted
for these shipments to SACU members, its total exports would be about $6
billion higher in 2011 and intra-African trade would be substantially higher,
with intra-SACU trade being the largest intra trade flow for regional trade
agreements in
Africa
.
Major breaks in data continuity
Beginning 2003,
Singapore
includes merchandise trade
with
Indonesia
.
Beginning 2008,
Indonesia
s imports are reported
according to the general trade system.
With respect to the
Russian Federation
, considerable uncertainty
remains about the accuracy of foreign trade statistics, especially as regards
imports. A large proportion of the reported data on imports consists of
official estimates of inflows of goods which enter the economy without being
registered by the customs authorities. Such adjustments to import data
accounted for 6 per cent of the officially reported totals in 2011; and, on the
export side, for about 1 per cent of total reported exports.
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
United Kingdom
.
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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.
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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,
Asia
and four East Asian
traders totals do not include
Hong-Kong
,
China
's
re-exports as in the "Total merchandise trade" data set. (see Section V. I.).
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)
China
's exports are adjusted to approximate their final
destination,
(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)
South Africa
's trade does not include trade with the former Southern
African Customs Union members.
(v) Estimates for the
Middle East
include
unrecorded re-exports of the
United Arab Emirates
which accounted for 4 per cent of the region's total exports in
2010.
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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 countrys 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.
Data on exports and imports of services (including
government services n.i.e), other services, as well as government services
n.i.e. are available as memorandum items in the WTO online Statistics Database.
Government services n.i.e. is a residual category
covering government transactions (including those of international
organizations) not contained in other components of the BPM5
. Included are all transactions (in both goods and services) by
embassies, consulates, military units, with residents of economies in which
they are located and all transactions with other economies. The dataset on
international trade in services is produced jointly and published
simultaneously with UNCTAD.
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
European Union
Statistics are sourced from the Eurostat database.
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 2011, the
United States
implemented a number of changes in the classification of
certain services transactions beginning with statistics for the year 1999. Apart from regular updates in source data,
these improvements were part of a broader effort to align with the
recommendations of the new IMF Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6).
In particular, revisions incorporated the results of
BEAs 2009 financial services benchmark survey (which did not contain a
reporting threshold) as well as the reclassification of postal services from
U.S.
government miscellaneous services to other
transportation.
U.S.
expenditures by foreign nationals working at
international organizations were removed from other services. Revised methodologies were used for
estimating the
U.S.
expenditures of foreign residents who work in the
United States
for less than 1 year and for estimating
U.S.
air carriers expenditures in foreign ports. Finally,
cruises fares were reclassified from passenger fares to travel. As a result of these changes,
United States
' exports and imports of services were revised upwards.
In 2010, the
United States
revised its goods and services accounts to reflect the
reclassification of certain transactions from services to goods. In particular,
in previously published statistics, certain exports and imports of
military-related goods were recorded on a transactor basis and were combined
with other services transactions in the services account. In addition,
expenditures on goods and services by foreign air and ocean carriers in
U.S.
ports (exports) and by
U.S.
air and ocean carriers in foreign ports (imports) were
included in other transportation services. Beginning with statistics for
1999, fuel expenditures by foreign and
U.S.
air and ocean carriers were reclassified from other
transportation services to goods.
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 were 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
United States
revised its methodology for estimating trade in
insurance services. The new methodology measures insurance services as premiums
less normal claims. Normal claims comprise two components: regularly occurring
claims that are calculated as an average of all claims paid during the
previous six years, and a share of catastrophic claims that is added-on to
regularly occurring claims in equal increments over the two decades following
their event. As comprehensive data collection on insurance services started in
1986, the first six-year average of regularly occurring claims could only be
calculated for 1992. As a result, time series on trade in insurance services,
and consequently on other commercial services, have been revised back to 1992.
To complete the 2003 revision, in 2004 the
United States
added to insurance services an estimate of premium
supplements (or income earned on technical reserves of insurance companies).
Insurance companies provide financial protection to policy holders through the
pooling of risk and provide financial intermediation services through the
investment of reserves. The income is treated as accruing to the policy holders
who pay it back to the insurers as supplements to premiums to cover the full
cost of insurance. The investment income of insurance companies is not output
in and of itself, it is used to impute the value of
the implicit component of insurance services attributable to financial
intermediation.
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 Travellers Survey on
Expenditures) which are used in the new compilation method to directly estimate
the amounts spent by travellers to pay for goods and services. This applies to
exports and imports data as from 2006. As from 2009,
Japan
s travel exports and imports data reflect the results of
new surveys. Data on
transportation services are consistent with revised 1996-2004
data published in 2006 by the Bank of Japan (based on a new methodology for
measuring sea freight fares).
Trade in other commercial services of
India
In the course of 2004, the Reserve Bank of
India
released new data following the introduction of a new
reporting system to improve the coverage of Indian trade in services statistics
(mainly affecting the item other business services).
The data for
India
for "computer services" refer to WTO
Secretariat estimates. The Indian figures reported by the Reserve Bank of
India
and international agencies refer to "software
services" (covering Information Technology (IT) and IT enabled services).
The coverage of "software services" does not correspond to the
definition of computer services in international guidelines. WTO secretariat
estimates are drawn from the software figure which is broken down into a
computer/IT component included in the item "computer services", and
an IT enabled services component included under the item "miscellaneous business,
professional and technical services" (under "other business
services"). This breakdown is done on the basis of the information
published in the annual RBI report "Survey on Computer Software &
Information Technology Services Exports".
Trade in commercial services of United Arab Emirates
Commercial services trade statistics of
United Arab Emirates
only cover transportation and travel.
Trade in commercial services of
Nigeria
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
South Africa
In 2006 the Reserve Bank of
South Africa
improved its commercial services estimates, and revised
its data back to 2001 (resulting in a break in series for that year).
Trade in other commercial services of
Bahrain
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 Lebanon
New data compiled from 2010 resulted in a break in series for that year
for other business services, insurance services, financial services, computer
and information services, as well as personal, cultural and recreational
services.
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
Republic
of
Iran
Starting with 2004,
Iran
compiles data according to the recommendations of the
BPM5.
Trade in commercial services of the
Kingdom
of
Saudi Arabia
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
Singapore
(from 1995), and
Switzerland
, (from 1999) data on trade in financial services include
Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM). This is not in
accordance with BPM5 recommendations.
For
Australia
, data as from 2009 include FISIM due to the country's
transition to BPM6.
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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.
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V. 6 Selected
regional integration agreements
Refer to
the composition in the
regional integration agreements.
Data are
only available for selectedproduct aggregates.
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VI. Statistical
sources
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
Europe
UNECLAC,
Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean
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.
A matrix summarizing the status of the trade in services data
publication by International organizations is available athttp://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/TFSITS/matrix.htm. The table provides links to the databases as well as information on
when the information is updated, availability of details, partner data, etc.
This table is maintained by the Task Force on Statistics of International Trade
in Services.
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VII. Acknowledgements
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.
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