Sources of information

Selection criterias

  Limitations of data

The Product TradeMaps database presents trade flows around the world by sector at the individual product level in the Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature. Product TradeMaps is based on trade data reported by 98 countries to the COMTRADE database of the United Nations Statistical Division. These 98 reporting countries account for more than 90% of world trade. COMTRADE is the world's largest and most comprehensive source of product-specific trade data.

Product TradeMaps sheds light on the following questions:

• What are the exporting and importing countries for the selected product?
• What are the dynamic markets? Which countries have performed better than other countries and increased their international market share?
• Is there a correlation between the growth in value and the growth in quantity?
• What are the importing or supplying countries for a specific market and a selected product?

Product selection

On the previous page, to select a product, click on the option Select a product and a search panel will help you. You can search a product by keyword or by product code. For example, if you enter tea as keyword, a list will appear containing all products within your sector with the word tea in the label (please write the keyword in lowercase). If you enter 01 as product code, a list will appear of all products within your sector, whose product code begins with 01. To select a product, just click on the product code in the list available.
After selected a product, if you submit your request, you will get a list of importing or exporting countries for the selected product.

Foreign trade statistics provide a differentiated picture of trade flows among countries. This makes them an atttractive source for market research and the assessment of trade performance. strive to present trade statistics in an analytical and user-friendly format. Notwithstanding the attractiveness of this comprehensive source of information, users should be aware of the following weak points of foreign trade statistics:

• Trade data are never complete. Non-reported trade is a serious problem in a number of countries. In addition, trade statistics as with any source of information are not free of mistakes and omissions.
• Most countries include imports destined for re-export and re-exports in their import and export statistics. A low-income country may be an exporter of airplanes simply because its national airline has sold second-hand planes.
• According to international conventions for reporting trade statistics, the export value refers to the total or co ntract value, which may have little to do with local value added. For many processing activities, for instance, the local value added remains below 20% of the export value.
• Detailed trade statistics are available only for merchandise trade and not for services, although the latter may account for a sizeable share of national exports.
• Even at the lowest level of disaggregation, product groups in the trade nomenclatures do not necessarily reflect trade names and often cover a wide range of different p roducts. Moreover, the product nomenclature is sometimes misleading. The labels of aggregated product groups are often too general and at times give little information on the identity of the leading items within the product groups concerned.
• Exchange rate fluctuations are not always properly recorded in international trade statistics. Values are normally aggregated over a period of one year in local currency and converted into United States dollars.
• For countries which do not report trade data to the United Nations, ITC uses partner country data to obtain mirror statistics. While mirror statistics are a second-best solution, they are better than having no data at all. They have a number of shortcomings in comparison to nationally reported data. First and foremost, they do not cover trade with non-reporting countries. As a result, mirror statistics hardly cover South-South trade. Second , there is the problem of transshipments, which may hide the actual source of supply. Third, mirror statistics invert the reporting standards by valuating exports in CIF terms (i.e. inclusive of transport and insurance) and imports in FOB terms (exclusiv e of these items).

In view of the above shortcomings, mirror statistics should never be used as the sole source of information; they should be complemented by data from other sources and, in particular, cross-checked by product specialists and industry insiders. Overall, ITC's experience suggests that trade statistics are a useful source of information and a valid point of departure for strategic market research, if the analysis is carried out with a healthy mix of skepticism and pragmatism.