The 2016 yearbook issue of Direction of Trade Statistics provides, for about 160 countries, tables with current data (or estimates) on the value of imports from and exports to their most important trading partners. In addition, similar summary tables for the world, industrial countries, and developing countries are included. Reported data are supplemented by estimates whenever such data are not current or are not available in monthly frequency. Country pages include lines for all partner countries that have been reported, estimated, or extrapolated. It is sometimes assumed that corresponding export and import data between partner countries should be consistent. As a result of reporting and processing lags, trade data for a given period are often released before all customs documents for the period have been processed. These data are sometimes not revised, or, if data are revised, errors are nevertheless made in assigning the date on which goods are shipped or received and the late data are assigned to the wrong month, quarter, and/or year.

This paper discusses that shipments to and from free-trade zones and bonded warehouses, exclusion of military and other confidential items and government goods, value thresholds for customs registration of shipments, returned goods, and other goods missed by customs (or surveys) are examples of coverage differences that can result in inconsistencies. As a result of reporting and processing lags, trade data for a given period are often released before all customs documents for the period have been processed. These data are sometimes not revised, or, if data are revised, errors are nevertheless made in assigning the date on which goods are shipped or received and the late data are assigned to the wrong month, quarter, and/or year. Errors can also be made in assigning a destination to exports and an origin to imports during customs clearances, or in cases when the ultimate destination is changed after the initial consignment during transshipment, the change is not incorporated into published statistics via the release of revised data.

The Direction of Trade Statistics Online service provides data on the value of merchandise exports and imports between each country and all its trading partners. The database includes: total bilateral and multilateral exports and imports aggregated at national or regional group level; data from 1948 at monthly, quarterly, and annual frequencies.

This paper discusses those countries that have never reported data by trade partners to the IMF or to the United Nations COMTRADE, estimates are obtained by using directly the corresponding bilateral flow reported by counterpart countries. For example, if country B has never reported trade statistics with a geographical breakdown, but country A has reported imports from country B, then A’s data for imports are used to estimate B’s exports. Because imports are valued on a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) basis and exports on a free on board (FOB) basis, the data are adjusted for the cost of freight and insurance. A CIF/FOB factor of 1.06 is currently used. Reported imports CIF are divided by 1.06 (i.e., the CIF/FOB factor) to give partner country estimates of exports FOB. Similarly, reported exports FOB are multiplied by 1.06 to give partner country imports CIF.