Data Characteristics
Data Characteristics Unit of measure used Unit of measure usedValues are expressed in United States dollars (USD) and refer to declared transaction values. Imports are reported c.i.f. and exports are reported f.o.b. with the exception of Australia, Canada, Mexico, Slovak Republic and United States where imports are reported f.o.b. United States exports are reported f.a.s.
Data published are expressed as monthly averages. Quarterly and annual data are calculated as averages of monthly figures.
From 1 January 1999, the conversion rates for the Euro-zone countries from national currencies into USD are calculated using the Euro/USD exchange rate and the fixed Euro/national currency exchange rates. The Euro-zone was then enlarged to include Greece on 1 January 2001.
Euro Conversion rates
| Austria | Schilling | 13.7603 |
| Belgium | Belgian franc | 40.3399 |
| Finland | Markka | 5.94573 |
| France | French franc | 6.55957 |
| Greece | Drachma | 340.75 |
| Germany | Deutsche Mark | 1.95583 |
| Ireland | Irish Pound | 0.787564 |
| Italy | Italian Lira | 1936.27 |
| Luxembourg | Luxembourg franc | 40.3399 |
| Netherlands | Netherlands guilder | 2.20371 |
| Portugal | Portuguese escudo | 200.482 |
| Spain | Spanish peseta | 166.386 |
Population & Scope Population & Scope Geographic coverage Geographic coverage All area totals include intra-area trade.
Concepts & Classifications Concepts & Classifications Key statistical concept Key statistical conceptFollowing the UN recommendations defined by the Economic and Social Council of the Statistical Commission of the United Nations in "International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Concepts and Definitions (1998)", the international merchandise trade statistics record all goods which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory. Goods simply being transported through a country (goods in transit) or temporarily admitted or withdrawn (except for goods for inward or outward processing) do not add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country and are not included in the international merchandise trade statistics.
Customs records should be the main source of the data; and the additional sources could be used where customs sources are not available. Goods should be included in statistics at the time when they enter or leave the economic territory of a country. In the case of customs-based data collection systems, the time of recording should be the date of lodgement of the customs declaration.
Lists of goods to be included, to be recorded separately and to be excluded should be provided. Specific goods are to be excluded from detailed international merchandise trade statistics but recorded separately in order to derive totals of international merchandise trade for national accounts and balance of payments purposes.
Trade system
There are two trade systems in common use by which international merchandise trade statistics are compiled: general trade system and special trade system. The United Nations recommendations advise using the general trade system that provides a more comprehensive recording of external trade flows than does the special system. It also provides a better approximation of the change of ownership criterion used in the 1993 SNA and BPM5.
General trade includes all goods that cross the national frontier including goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded warehouses and free zones. The general trade system is in use when the statistical territory of a country coincides with its economic territory so that imports include all goods entering the economic territory of a compiling country and exports include all goods leaving the economic territory of a compiling country.
Special trade covers goods that cross the customs frontier plus goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded areas. The special trade system is in use when the statistical territory comprises only a particular part of the economic territory.
Coverage of trade
The data cover all goods which add to, or subtract from, the resources of a country as a result of their movement into or out of the country. The following types of goods are therefore included or excluded:
Goods to be included in the detailed international trade statistics:
- Non-monetary gold; goods traded on government account; food and other humanitarian aid; goods for military use; goods on consignment; goods used as carriers of information and software (CD-ROM, diskettes); goods for processing; returned goods; electricity, gas and water; goods under financial lease; ships, aircraft and other mobile equipment; sea products landed direct from the high seas.
Goods to be excluded in the detailed international trade statistics:
- Monetary gold, direct transit trade, temporary imports and exports, transactions in second-hand ships and aircraft, stores and bunkers for ships and aircraft; goods treated as part of trade in services; goods for repair.
Methodology
Trade data collected by OECD mostly follow the UN recommendations. Furthermore, in European countries, two systems of data collection coexist, i.e. Extra-stats and Intrastat. Extra-EU trade statistics record movable property imported and exported by the EU Member country from and to countries outside the European community. Intra-EU trade statistics include the arrival and dispatch of movable property within the European community as recorded by each Member state of the EU.
Geographical classification
The geographical classification refers to areas of origin (or country of consignment) for imports and areas of consumption (last known destination) for exports. The statistical territory of these countries is defined in the OECD Geographical Nomenclature.
Other Aspects Other Aspects Recommended uses and limitations Recommended uses and limitationsThe Monthly Statistics of International Trade now publishes data received directly from the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) under the name EU15-Extra EU and EU12-Extra EU which excludes intra EU-trade.
As the example below shows, Community statistics, which cover the European Union as a whole, and the statistics compiled by the EU Member States and sent to OECD, which are concerned with the national dimension, are not always directly comparable. There can be methodological differences, which make precise comparison of these statistics impossible.
The principal differences are as follows:
- Breakdown by partner country
For arrivals of goods from other EU Member States, certain EU Member States record the country of origin as the partner country in their national statistics, whereas it is the EU Member State of consignment that appears in the Community statistics relating to the same goods movement.
- Treatment of goods in transit
Some EU Member States, particularly Belgium and the Netherlands do not record goods, which they consider to be 'in transit'. This covers, firstly, the import of goods from non-member countries which are customs cleared in these EU Member States before being dispatched on to other EU Member States and, secondly, goods from other EU Member States which are then immediately re-exported to non-member countries.
These goods are normally recorded for Community Statistics purposes under intra- or extra-EU trade, as appropriate. This phenomenon is known as the 'Rotterdam effect'
- Other differences
Other methodological differences can cause discrepancies between national and Community statistics (for example: classification at national level as 'general trade' rather than 'special trade', or not recording 'repairs' on the grounds that they are considered as services).
Quality comments Quality commentsIntrastat
The advent of the Single Market 1 January 1993, with its removal of customs formalities (the traditional source of statistical data) between Member States leads to the adoption of a specially designed collection system, Intrastat, for statistics on intra-Community trade.
These changes necessitate greater vigilance on the part of statistical users because they obviously affect the nature, quality and coverage of the data. In particular, the introduction of Intrastat in 1993 involved a methodological break with the past and affected the quality of the statistics.
Other comments Other commentsValues are expressed in United States dollars (USD) and refer to declared transaction values. Imports are reported c.i.f. and exports are reported f.o.b. with the exception of Australia, Canada, Mexico, Slovak Republic and United States where imports are reported f.o.b. United States exports are reported f.a.s.
Data published are expressed as monthly averages. Quarterly and annual data are calculated as averages of monthly figures.
From 1 January 1999, the conversion rates for the Euro-zone countries from national currencies into USD are calculated using the Euro/USD exchange rate and the fixed Euro/national currency exchange rates. The Euro-zone was then enlarged to include Greece on 1 January 2001.
Euro Conversion rates
| Austria | Schilling | 13.7603 |
| Belgium | Belgian franc | 40.3399 |
| Finland | Markka | 5.94573 |
| France | French franc | 6.55957 |
| Greece | Drachma | 340.75 |
| Germany | Deutsche Mark | 1.95583 |
| Ireland | Irish Pound | 0.787564 |
| Italy | Italian Lira | 1936.27 |
| Luxembourg | Luxembourg franc | 40.3399 |
| Netherlands | Netherlands guilder | 2.20371 |
| Portugal | Portuguese escudo | 200.482 |
| Spain | Spanish peseta | 166.386 |
All area totals include intra-area trade.
Following the UN recommendations defined by the Economic and Social Council of the Statistical Commission of the United Nations in "International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Concepts and Definitions (1998)", the international merchandise trade statistics record all goods which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory. Goods simply being transported through a country (goods in transit) or temporarily admitted or withdrawn (except for goods for inward or outward processing) do not add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country and are not included in the international merchandise trade statistics.
Customs records should be the main source of the data; and the additional sources could be used where customs sources are not available. Goods should be included in statistics at the time when they enter or leave the economic territory of a country. In the case of customs-based data collection systems, the time of recording should be the date of lodgement of the customs declaration.
Lists of goods to be included, to be recorded separately and to be excluded should be provided. Specific goods are to be excluded from detailed international merchandise trade statistics but recorded separately in order to derive totals of international merchandise trade for national accounts and balance of payments purposes.
Trade system
There are two trade systems in common use by which international merchandise trade statistics are compiled: general trade system and special trade system. The United Nations recommendations advise using the general trade system that provides a more comprehensive recording of external trade flows than does the special system. It also provides a better approximation of the change of ownership criterion used in the 1993 SNA and BPM5.
General trade includes all goods that cross the national frontier including goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded warehouses and free zones. The general trade system is in use when the statistical territory of a country coincides with its economic territory so that imports include all goods entering the economic territory of a compiling country and exports include all goods leaving the economic territory of a compiling country.
Special trade covers goods that cross the customs frontier plus goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded areas. The special trade system is in use when the statistical territory comprises only a particular part of the economic territory.
Coverage of trade
The data cover all goods which add to, or subtract from, the resources of a country as a result of their movement into or out of the country. The following types of goods are therefore included or excluded:
Goods to be included in the detailed international trade statistics:
- Non-monetary gold; goods traded on government account; food and other humanitarian aid; goods for military use; goods on consignment; goods used as carriers of information and software (CD-ROM, diskettes); goods for processing; returned goods; electricity, gas and water; goods under financial lease; ships, aircraft and other mobile equipment; sea products landed direct from the high seas.
Goods to be excluded in the detailed international trade statistics:
- Monetary gold, direct transit trade, temporary imports and exports, transactions in second-hand ships and aircraft, stores and bunkers for ships and aircraft; goods treated as part of trade in services; goods for repair.
Methodology
Trade data collected by OECD mostly follow the UN recommendations. Furthermore, in European countries, two systems of data collection coexist, i.e. Extra-stats and Intrastat. Extra-EU trade statistics record movable property imported and exported by the EU Member country from and to countries outside the European community. Intra-EU trade statistics include the arrival and dispatch of movable property within the European community as recorded by each Member state of the EU.
Geographical classification
The geographical classification refers to areas of origin (or country of consignment) for imports and areas of consumption (last known destination) for exports. The statistical territory of these countries is defined in the OECD Geographical Nomenclature.
The Monthly Statistics of International Trade now publishes data received directly from the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) under the name EU15-Extra EU and EU12-Extra EU which excludes intra EU-trade.
As the example below shows, Community statistics, which cover the European Union as a whole, and the statistics compiled by the EU Member States and sent to OECD, which are concerned with the national dimension, are not always directly comparable. There can be methodological differences, which make precise comparison of these statistics impossible.
The principal differences are as follows:
- Breakdown by partner country
For arrivals of goods from other EU Member States, certain EU Member States record the country of origin as the partner country in their national statistics, whereas it is the EU Member State of consignment that appears in the Community statistics relating to the same goods movement.
- Treatment of goods in transit
Some EU Member States, particularly Belgium and the Netherlands do not record goods, which they consider to be 'in transit'. This covers, firstly, the import of goods from non-member countries which are customs cleared in these EU Member States before being dispatched on to other EU Member States and, secondly, goods from other EU Member States which are then immediately re-exported to non-member countries.
These goods are normally recorded for Community Statistics purposes under intra- or extra-EU trade, as appropriate. This phenomenon is known as the 'Rotterdam effect'
- Other differences
Other methodological differences can cause discrepancies between national and Community statistics (for example: classification at national level as 'general trade' rather than 'special trade', or not recording 'repairs' on the grounds that they are considered as services).
Intrastat
The advent of the Single Market 1 January 1993, with its removal of customs formalities (the traditional source of statistical data) between Member States leads to the adoption of a specially designed collection system, Intrastat, for statistics on intra-Community trade.
These changes necessitate greater vigilance on the part of statistical users because they obviously affect the nature, quality and coverage of the data. In particular, the introduction of Intrastat in 1993 involved a methodological break with the past and affected the quality of the statistics.