the united nations commodity trade statistics database (un comtrade)
TRANSCRIPT
Joint Standing Committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD (2004), Inquiry into Intelligence on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMD), Canberra: Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, http://www.aph.gov.au/house/
committee/pjcaad/WMD/report.htm, accessed April 13, 2004; and Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons,
Foreign Affairs Committee (2003), The Decision to Go to War in Iraq: Ninth Report of Session 2002–02: Volume 1,
London: Stationery Office, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmfaf/813/813.pdf,
accessed April 13, 2004.
Bert Chapman
HSSE Library, 504 West State Street, Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2058, United States
E-mail address: [email protected].
Fax: +1 765 494 9007.
15 April 2004
The United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade)
Accessed June 2004, Available: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/comtrade/
UN Comtrade is a component in the powerful Statistical Databases stable of the
United Nations Statistics Division. It bprovides commodity trade data for all available
countries and areas since 1962Q and these data entail almost 700 million records. Each
record consists of five variables: breporterQ country, bcommodity,Q trading bpartner,Qbyear,Q and btrade flow,Q where trade flow identifies imports, exports, or reexports of the
designated commodity. The market share of all reporting countries entails more than 90%
of all world trade. These data alone make this electronic tool very helpful for economic
investigations, but it is only one element in the United Nations array of analytical
instruments that cover, for example, universal protocols for eradicating poverty and
hunger, and for improving healthcare and education; gross domestic product assessments;
social indicators; populations of major cities around the world; accepted rules for
generating and providing these data; and the Cyberschoolbus statistical site (in English,
Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic versions) for middle and secondary school
students.
In itself, this UN Comtrade resource has evolved into a treasure chest of material; its ac-
cumulation of annual trade data from over 130 countries is classified according to versions of
the Standard International Trade Classification and of the Harmonized Commodity Description
and Coding Systems.1 To expedite its use, there is an HTML and a PowerPoint presentation
entitled bUN Comtrade Database SystemQ in the bFirst Time UserQ section. This is a useful
entry point and either one of these descriptions may be used for bibliographic instruction.
However, there is an important aspect that requires emphasis: This is a database, with very
little extra text beyond the limited descriptions assigned to classification categories. The
doi:10.1016/j.jgi.2004.04.001
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bPublications,Q bMethods and Classifications,Q and bStatistical CommissionQ tabs at the top of
theWeb page highlight United Nations materials and definitions of standards and aspects of the
Statistical Commission, but once the user enters the bStatistical DatabasesQ area, the primary
(and almost sole) focus is on the reams of commodity data. For this reason, this review presents
specific statistical inquiries as the method of demonstrating Comtrade’s use. Experienced users
will see immediately the versatility that this suite offers, and the straightforward applicability
illuminated here should stimulate even novice clients to employ this system as well.
Simple searches may be done with the bComtrade ExplorerQ option. Here, a simple one-
word search may be initiated: entering bvanillaQ as the search element produces an output of
nine classification system-commodity code combinations. For example, within the most
recent 2002 Harmonized System, vanilla is coded here as bHS02-0905,Q signifying code
group 09 for bcoffee, tea, mate, and spices,Q and subcode 05 for bvanilla.Q The returned data
show that, for the years 2000 through 2003, the United States was the major international
importer (amounting to $455,793,008 or 58.8% of total vanilla imports), while France was
the most significant exporter with 28.6% of all vanilla trade with a market value of
$56,812,100. Labeled pie charts reinforce the presented data.
In a similar manner, entering bZambiaQ into this search engine yields an indicated
importation in 2002 of $172,071,952 worth of bnuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, etc.QClicking on the commodity code number next to this description reveals that the United States
provided 3.4% or $5,796,723 worth of items from this commodity group. Zambia exported
during this period bcopper and articles thereofQ to the tune of $493,241,024 ormore than 53% of
all their exports. Over 42% of all these exports (i.e., almost $394 million worth) went to
Zambia’s Top Export Partner, the UK, and by clicking on this latter country’s link, it can be seen
that the copper commodities composed about 75% of all exports to the UK, with bother basemetals, cermets, articles thereofQ comprising another 20%. Thus, this database allows access to
extremely useful partner trading information.
An inclusion process within the Comtrade Explorer allows selected commodities to be
investigated while still maintaining the ability to see other trade activity, thereby expanding
the suite of commercial elements. The bquick filterQ pull-down allows the option to see
chosen traffic with other partners or to see exchange in other commodities. By clicking on
the returned bareas, not elsewhere specifiedQ import partner, it can be seen quite quickly
that in 2002 Zambia imported 24 kilograms of vanilla worth $492. Possible alternative
commodities might include bHS02-9501-Wheeled toys designed to be ridden by childrenQ(South Africa supplied Zambia with almost 72% of these), bHS02-9101-Wrist-watches,
pocket-watches, and other watches, including stop-watchesQ (Zambia exported $88 worth in
2002), or the bHS02-5002-Raw silk (not thrown)Q importation by Zambia for the same year
in the amount of just under $500.
For slightly more practiced users, the initial Web page has the bShortcut QueryQ tool thatwill accept, in one pass through six pull-downs and one text box, the import/export/reexport
of a bCommodityQ in year YYYY (or recent years, or latest reported data) to a specified
bCountryQ (or region or former country) from either the bWorldQ or a selected country/region/
former country according to any, or to a specific classification system. For a query into the
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exportation of petroleum (bHS02-2709-Petroleum oils, crudeQ) in 2002 to the UK from
Mexico, we find that slightly more that $115 million of this product was moved to the UK.
With one adjustment, it is possible to determine that over $13 billion worth of Mexican
petroleum was exported to the bWorld.Q Changing the bfromQ pull-down from bMexicoQ tobSaudi ArabiaQ reveals that $413 million of petroleum was exported to the UK and $53 billion
to the bWorld,Q respectively. It is a very quick and useful tool.
There are other interactive options to select data and to portray it graphically. The initial
Web page for this database has a bTrade in GraphQ example—at the moment of writing, the
current model is a graph of both trade quantity and trade values of Estonian importation from
the World of almost $42 million worth of bHS96-8429-Self-propelled earthmoving, road
making, etc., machines.Q A footnote to the graph indicates that over 35,000 records of data
available for this category were referred to this collection by 149 countries between 1996 and
2003. This bTrade in GraphQ option is a very powerful one.
The bExpress SelectionQ alternative allows, among other things, a quick view of bTotalExportsQ under the HS2002 classification. This can be obtained by entering bAllQ in each of
the bBasic ItemsQ text boxes and selecting bExportQ here, and then by setting on the
bAdvanced ItemsQ tab the bFilter Trade ValueQ to, say, a $10 billion threshold. Data sorting is
accomplished by specifying bTradeValQ in the bSelect Sort OrderQ pull-down. In a few
seconds, one learns that in 2003, Germany had total exports valued at $25 billion more than
those of the United States, i.e., $748.5 vs. $723.6 billion. By running down the list, the first
$10+ billion single commodity class in this search may be found: it is for Germany’s 2003
exportation to the World of $136.9 billion worth of bHS02-87-Vehicles other than railway,
tramway rolling stock.QAccess to this database is either free or by subscription with username and password
features. The free bGuest UserQ mode allows the selection of up to 1000 data records that may
be browsed, but not downloaded. Three individual subscription classes (in commercial or not-
for-profit cost categories) are based on the expected total number of required data records.
Similarly, organizations that may require multiple user access may subscribe to one of these
two cost options by using an Internet protocol (IP) address. This site license has no limit to
the number of records that may be accessed and downloaded.
As a final indication of the usefulness and scope of this resource, there was a note
posted on the Comtrade main Web page that stated, bas of 21 June 2004, 2.4 billion records
have been downloaded from UN Comtrade.Q It is a substantial collection of commodity
data.
The UN Comtrade database should be of particular interest to academic libraries, and to
special libraries or to organizations that are involved in domestic and international commerce
and that are in need of worldwide commodities data.
Note
1. The bMethods and ClassificationQ tab at the top of the Web page will lead to operational definitions of
these and other systems.
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Charles D. Bernholz
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln,
NE 68588, United States
E-mail address: [email protected].
25 June 2004
Public Record Office: The National Archives. Last visited on March 4, 2001,
Public Records Office for England, Wales, and the United Kingdom, Public
Records Office, London, England, http://www.pro.gov.uk
UK National Digital Archive of Datasets, Last visited April 2, 2001, University of
London Computer Center, London, England, http://ndad.ulcc.ac.uk/
The Public Records Office for England, Wales, and the United Kingdom serves as the
National Archives for the public records of the central government of the United
Kingdom, smaller governmental units, certain courts, and other semi-independent local
bodies. With the exception of Scotland and Northern Ireland, who maintain their own
public records, each department or unit in the United Kingdom is responsible for
maintaining its own records. The Web site for the Public Records Office (PRO) of
England, Wales, and the United Kingdom provides a link to the listings of these
permanently retained public records.
Governed by the Public Records Act of 1958 and the Public Records Act of 1967, all
public records in the United Kingdom are passed out of action 5 years after the date of
creation. After the first review, many of the public records in the United Kingdom are
destroyed. Only those records thought to contain material that should be permanently retained
are held until a second review can be conducted in 15–25 years. Once the second review is
completed, a determination is made whether the records need to be archived and then they are
sent to the Public Records Office for permanent retention. In accordance with British law,
these permanent records are not made available to the public for a period of 30 years.
Immediately after the start of each new year, in what is aptly titled, New Year Openings, the
list of all of the documents that are being made available for public release is announced. In
January 2001, public records from 1970 were released to the public for first time and a listing
of these titles was immediately available on the Public Records Office Web site.
On March 19, 2001, the Public Records Office Web site launched a completely new
interface. It is expected to take over a year to complete this entire project, but the immediate
goal is make the Web site easier for users to navigate. From the outset, the PRO Web site has
solicited feedback from the site users. Several user surveys were conducted and the users’
comments and suggestions were incorporated into the ongoing plans for the complete
redesign of the Web site.
doi:10.1016/j.jgi.2004.08.005
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