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
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Name
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Description
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Coverage
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Information on geographical coverage, on
commodity coverage and on the inclusion of special trade zones (e.g.
processing zones).
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Trade system
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Specifies any deviation from the default
"General trade" system.
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Method of valuation
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Identifies import values reported on a
free on board (f.o.b.) basis.
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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
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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
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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 territories in North America n.e.s.
South and Central America (including the Caribbean): Antigua and Barbuda,
Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Bolivia, 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 countries and territories in South and Central
America and the Caribbean n.e.s.
Europe: Albania, 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, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and territories in Europe n.e.s.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The grouping former USSR refers to the Baltic States
and the CIS.
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,
United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda; and Southern
Africa: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South
Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe; and territories in Africa n.e.s.
The Middle East: Bahrain, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates,
Yemen, and other countries and territories in the Middle East n.e.s.
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 countries and territories
in Asia and the Pacific n.e.s.
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, Libya, 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, Mal, Nger,
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, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of 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, Timor Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda,
United Republic of Tanzania, 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, Timor Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, 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
Reporter and partner
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 Total
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.
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 (f.o.b.
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 (c.i.f. valuation).
Re-exports and re-imports
It should be noted that due to
the use of the general system for recording merchandise trade statistics, the
World and Asia totals in the " Total merchandise trade value" series
include Hong-Kong, China re-exports and thus contain a significant element of
double counting. As the inclusion of Hong-Kong, China's re-exports (estimated in
2008 at $353 billion) would adversely affect the analytical value of the
statistics, they are, unless otherwise indicated, excluded from the World and Asia aggregates in other
merchandise trade series.
China reports imports from China (re-imports), a trade flow which accounted for 8.2 per cent ($92.3
billion) of its total merchandise imports in 2008. 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 ($47.5 billion) in this particular trade flow. The share of
returned goods is particularly large in the imports of telecommunications
equipment (38.3 per cent), EDP and office equipment
(34.4 per cent), electrical machinery (26.0 per cent)
and in textiles (19.1 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.
Trade of South Africa with SACU (South African Customs Union)
South Africas 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 80 percent of these countries total
merchandise imports in 2002. This share most likely increased thereafter
and represents an important trade flow for the African region. If South Africas exports would be adjusted
for these shipments to SACU members, its total
exports would increase by $5 billion in 2008 and intra-African trade would be
substantially higher, with intra-SACU trade being the
largest intra trade flow for regional trade agreements in Africa.
Breaks in data continuity
They result from the following circumstances:
(i) major
adjustments in trade conversion factors for Bulgaria, the countries of the former USSR, and Cuba between 1989 and 1990. 1990 figures comparable to
previous years are as follows - Bulgaria $13.3 billion, the former USSR $103.8 billion, and Cuba $5.5 billion.
Comparable 1990 import values are $13.1 billion for Bulgaria, $120.9 billion for the former USSR, and $7.4 billion for Cuba;
(ii) changes in political
boundaries;
(iii) changes introduced in the
methods of collecting trade statistics in EU member
States. Since January 1993, statistics on the trade between the member States
of the EU have been collected through the "Intrastat" system. 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. As this
adjustment is not allocated between EU member
countries 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.
(iv) inclusion of mutual trade
of the successor States of the former USSR beginning with 1994;
(v) inclusion of export from processing zones of El
Salvador beginning with 1992, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic and the United
Arab Emirates beginning with 1993, Morocco beginning with 1994, Ukraine
beginning with 1995, Hungary beginning with 1996, Aruba beginning with 2000 and
Guatemala beginning with 2002;
(vi) inclusion of the French
four overseas departments (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion) in the Customs area of France beginning with 1996;
(vii) Between 1997 and 1998 for the Russian Federation due to the use of Balance of Payments methodology by GOSKOMSTAT starting 1998;
(viii) Beginning 2003, Singapore includes merchandise trade with Indonesia;
(ix) Between 1994 and 1995 for Ukraine, due to a change in data collection procedures (from
enterprise surveys to customs collection), and to a change from multiple to
single exchange rate regime;
(x) Gradual alignment of EU
acceding countries to standards of the Intrastat
reporting system, as in the case of the Slovak Republic (between 1996 and 1997)
and Poland (between 1997 and 1998);
(xi) Beginning with 1998, changes introduced in the
methods of reporting South African figures which no longer refer to the South
African Customs Union.
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
9 per cent of the officially reported totals in 2008; and, on the export side,
for about 1 per cent of total reported exports.
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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.
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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.
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 IMFs
Balance-of-Payments statistics. Intra-EU trade
figures have been estimated from statistics included in the New Cronos database, July 2009.
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.
The latest major revision (in 2008) is the compilation of 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 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 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. Data shown for
transportation services in this report 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).
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 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.
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V. 5 Merchandise
trade indices
The volume and unit value
indices are taken from a range of different international and national sources.
The reported volume and unit value 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 unit values from national and international sources are
completed 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 unit value index. Second, to obtain the total world
merchandise volume index, regional unit value indices are aggregated and the
world trade value is deflated by the world unit value index. 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 selected product aggregates.
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VI. Statistical
sources
Most frequently used sources are:
EUROSTAT, Comext and New Cronos 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
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. For 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.
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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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