UN Comtrade data

Web based bulk query

Source

Web based query for accessing Comtrade bulk data in the browser is available here: https://comtrade.un.org/data/bulk.

First time you need to access it from the FAO buildings in order to authorize your email. Insert your email in the “Enter your email” field and press “Authenticate my IP”. After that your email will be saved in the Comtrade database and you will be grated with the access to the bulk download interface (same address https://comtrade.un.org/data/bulk).

How to access data

In order to access Comtrade bulk data on the bulk data access page select required set of parameters. For example, to download bulk commodity statistics for France, select:

• Type of product: Goods;
• Frequency: Annual;
• HS: As reported;
• Period: All;
• Reporter: France (or All - all reporters in one file or any single reporter that you needed);
• Publication data: keep unchanged.

After clicking “Preview” yo will be returned with the list of all bulk data files available for your selection. Clicking on any of them will run the file, clicking on “Show API link” will provide you with the API data request command (see the next subsection) for returning a bulk data file. Be aware that any bulk data file could range in size from 1 to 500 megabyte.

Data response

Your browser will download one zip archive with data for a selected country (all countries), period and classification.

Attention! Data files could be very. In zipped format file size may range from 1 to 500 megabyte. Un extracted format, file size could be up to 9 gigabytes.

API bulk query

Source

If you do not want to click in the browser, you can use the API for accessing Comtrade data. Extensive explanation about the Comtrade API tools is available here https://comtrade.un.org/data/doc/api/bulk/.

How to access data

To access Comtrade bulk data with API, we need to construct a request, insert it to the browser command line and run it.

To request a bulk data file we need to use the specific format explained here. The main idea is to construct a request based on the template http://comtrade.un.org/api/get/bulk/{type}/{freq}/{ps}/{r}/{px}?{token=} specifying correct parameters:

• type - trade type C - Commodities of S - Services;
• freq - frequency A - Annual or M - Monthly;
• ps - period coverage for annual data ps=YYYY - e.g. ps=2010, for monthly ps=YYYY or ps=YYYYMM;
• r - reporter area code - e.g. r=804 or r=All. Extensive list available here;
• px - classification, available values are: HS - Harmonized System (HS) as reported, H0-HS 1992, H1-HS 1996, H2-HS 2002, H3-HS 2007, H4-HS 2012 and others see;
• token - optional parameter for data from outside of the authorized network.

For example, we want to request monthly data freq=M of commodities trade type=C for All reporters r=ALL for period January, 2017 ps=201701, in the HS as reporter classification px=HS. The request is http://comtrade.un.org/api/get/bulk/C/M/201701/ALL/HS. We insert this request to the browser adders line and download the file.

Data response

Your browser will download one zip archive with data for a selected country (all countries), period and classification.

Attention! Data files could be very. In zipped format file size may range from 1 to 500 megabyte. Un extracted format, file size could be up to 9 gigabytes.

Token for data access

To generate an authentication token for the UN Comtrade from the registered IP range (i.e. from the FAO headquarters), we first need to go to the UN Comtrade authentication page and insert our email into the Sign in using: > IP Authentication: field. Pressing Authenticate my IP will ensure we are registered in the UN Comtrade system. Please note, you need to do this only once.

Subsequently we need to go to comtradePlus.APIand select /getSubUserToken in the Auth section . After inserting the email, which you used to register above, into the corresponding field, press “try it out”:

In Response Headers the token will appear as a long string of symbols and characters. This token is to be copied to a secure place and used to access data in some programming cases or in the World Bank WITS database.

Comtrade data-explorer

Comtrade data explorer https://comtrade.un.org/labs/data-explorer/ (unfortunately was not working on 2017-08-31). A tool for visualization of the main trade flows between selected reporters and partners of the selected commodity. Here, you will find a .pdf guidelines on how to use Comtrade data-explorer.

Limitations:

• Commodities are not defined using the HS commodity codes, but as a free text, therefor, it is difficult to understand the meaning behind some commodity names.
• Options of custom-defined aggregates of countries or commodities are not available.

Bilateral trade exploration tool

BIS trade in goods tool is available at https://comtrade.un.org/labs/BIS-trade-in-goods/ it allow to visualize trade of a selected good from a selected reporter to all or selected partner.

Limitations:

• Commodity coverage is limited to the 2 digits HS commodity description;
• Options of custom-defined aggregates of countries or commodities are not available.

Metadata and documentation

Generally, all information related to Comtrade metadata is organised here: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradekb/Knowledgebase/.

If you are looking for the country specific data publication notes, they are available at https://comtrade.un.org/db/mr/daPubNoteDetail.aspx with more information here. API interface for accessing publication notes is explained here and here.

Commodity mapping tables

Mapping tables for conversion between different coding systems (HS 2012 to HS 2002 or SITC) are here: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/classifications/correspondence-tables.asp.Please note, that conversions are only available from the most recent coding system to the older version because most of the new coding systems are dis-aggregating previously existing ones.

Detailed information on the statistical classification of the commodities could be found here https://unstats.un.org/unsd/class/default.asp.

To convert between the FAOSTAT commodities and HS/SICT classification, see official FAOSTAT conversion tables http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-standards/commodity/en/ or contact ESS division.

Country classification

Please note Comtrade, FAOSTAT and UNSD all have different country classification. Although, all of them might be similar, there are some peculiarities in classifying some European countries as well as politically sensitive countries. Clear data classification tables are available at https://comtrade.un.org/db/mr/rfReportersList.aspx and http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#definitions.