Trade Knowledgebase

Comtrade User Guide

comtrade_admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:06:35 GMT

This article refers to Legacy UN Comtrade. Use with caution.

UN Comtrade User Guide includes:

UN Comtrade Coverage and Limitations
Database Usage License Agreement and Policy on Re-dissemination
Subscription
Frontpage
Shortcut Query
Data Query and Extraction
Data Availability
Support
Metadata and Reference Manual

See attachments.

UN Comtrade DATA: http://comtrade.un.org/

My Account (Manual)

comtrade_admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:07:26 GMT

My Comtrade Account (Manual)

Taken from Complete Manual (WBC_MUT001CEn). Please see attachment.

Internet Facility Requirements

comtrade_admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:33:07 GMT

Q: Can you let us know which (if any) viewers are needed for this product? I.e. Acrobat, Flash, Shockwave, and the version numbers please?
A: No additional components are needed to view and download data. UN Comtrade database is designed to work for IE version 6.0 and above. To view graph, java virtual machine must be installed (http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp). To view map, Adobe flash player is needed.

Q: Does this product automatically restrict access to the number of licensed users? How many? How is the restriction managed?
A: No restriction for both Individual and Site License users. Individual users must share the same username/password in order to have concurrent access, but not for Site License Users (recognized by IP Address)
Q: Does this product require any cookies, passwords or IP recognition to function?
A: Yes. Cookies are used as part of user authentication. Passwords are used for individual and site license (for master account only). IP recognition is required for Site License.

Q: If there are any additional files that may need to be added to the client machines once the network installation has been completed, can you list them and supply detailed locations where these files need to be? (.ini, .dll, .ocx etc)
A: No.

Payment of Royalty Fees

comtrade_admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:09:42 GMT

Please see how subscribe to UN Comtrade at:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradekb/Knowledgebase/Why-and-How-to-subscribe

Please also see our policy on re-dissemination of UN Comtrade data for further information.

Note: There are no royalty fees to be paid for use of a thousand records or less, however, proper citation is required.

For further questions, please contact subscriptions@un.org.

Principle of Roll-over

comtrade_admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:45:20 GMT

Remaining records from your current subscription can be carried over if you wish to renew your subscription. The principle here is what we call "roll-over", and is subject upon the following conditions:

-The new subscription is not a smaller subscription than the previous one. For instance, if a subscriber at the end of the year has 800,000 records left of a 1,000,000 subscription, he cannot roll-over these records, unless he takes at least a new 1,000,000 subscription. To stress this point, he cannot ask for a 100,000 record subscription and roll-over the 800,000 records.
- Only the active account can be rolled-over not the expired account. When the account is renewed, the remaining records will be rolled-over automatically.

Any questions, please contact subscriptions@un.org.

Royalty Fees

comtrade_admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:14:59 GMT

Q: We thought that limited access meant a restricted number of users. However, it appears that it in fact means the total number of records that would be downloaded. Is this correct?

The internet portal we are building is a subscription-based website covering emerging markets. In the first two-years of operation we are forecasting approx. 2,500 users. I do not anticipate that these users would download anywhere near the 20 million record limit, because the comtrade data is only one supplementary component of the entire service.

However, I do not want to place restrictions on user downloading or violate the terms of use for Comtrade data. Therefore, can you please clarify the following points?

1. Do we require the open access license, which I assume is for unlimited record dissemination? If so, can you please specify what the total cost would be for the 6 million and 18 million record options that you have outlined below?

2. Does this license include the tariff information that I indicated in my previous message? If not, can you please specify the cost for this data?

3. Is this a one time fee?

A: I will try to clarify the points made by you:

a) Restricted access has to do with restrictions to who can obtain access to your database. First of all, access would need to be on subscription basis. In addition, you would need to make the case, that your audience is not the general public, but a specific user group

b) Your Site License subscription gives you dowload access to all UN Comtrade records. Data are made available to you for internal use. The Site License subscription is valid for one year.

c) If you obtain the right for re-dissemination of 20 million records, this means that during a period of 12 months you can make up to 20 million records available on your website. We are not counting how many records are downloaded from your website. Only the number of records made available on your website are of concern for the re-dissemination fee.

d) Suppose that you make 18 million records available on your website during the 12 month period. These 18 million records can stay on your website after the 12 month period and you would not have to pay any additional fee. However, if you make new data available in the period following the first 12 months, then you need again to obtain the right to re-disseminate UN Comtrade data.

UN Comtrade does not include Tariff information. Tariff information can be obtained from the TRAINS database (see http://r0.unctad.org/trains/) which is nicely integrated in to the WITS software (see http://wits.worldbank.org/witsweb/default.aspx), which also contains UN Comtrade data. For access to Comtrade data via WITS, you will need a subscription to UN Comtrade data.

Q: We are developing an business portal on emerging economies in developing countries and would like to license comtrade data for use on the site. We have reviewed your "Policy on re-disseminating of Comtrade data" and the accompanying subscription schedules. Based on our understanding of what a record constitutes, we would like to obtain pricing for you on the following:

Reporters:       132 Countries (G-77)
Commodities:   5000 (All commodities covered in the database)
Years:             3 (The three most recent)
Trade Flows:    3 (Import, Export, Re-export)
Partners:         9 (World and all G-8 countries)

Tariffs: In addition, you appear to have tariff information. Is this available by commodity as well? If so, we would like to include it for all 132 countries, across all 5000 commodities for the latest year it is available.

By our calculations this information would total approximately 53,460,000 records. According to your subscription pricing terms any request over 20,000,000 must be done on a case by case basis. The site we are developing is designed to promote trade and investment in emerging economies of developing countries. Based on the scenarios outlined in the table in your document entitled "Royalty Fee Scheme", our site would be classified as being offered with "limited access" and "for a fee."

Can you please provide an estimate as to what our cost would be?

A: We investigated the actual amount of data records involved in your query and came to about 6 million based on the following criteria:

Selected classification: HS1992
Selected commodities: All
Selected reporters: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Rep., Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dem. People's Rep. of Korea, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, FS Micronesia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Dem. Rep., Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Isds, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Occ. Palestinian Terr., Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Isds, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Rep. of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Total of 80)
Selected years: 2002,2003,2004
Selected partners: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, USA, World
Selected trade flows: Import, Export, Re-Export

If you take all partners, instead of just the G-8 it would amount to around 18 million records.

Therefore, your request would fall within the existing royalty fee scheme. Your dissemination would qualify for "limited access", if you could give the criteria which you use to filter your audience.

In conclusion, we could setup your subscription plus right of re-dissemination on an annual basis, which would carry a cost of US$ 5,000 for your Site License plus US$ 25,000 for your right to re-disseminate up to 20 million records, subject to the decision if your access qualifies as "limited access".

Use UN Comtrade via World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS)

comtrade_admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:41:45 GMT

Use UN Comtrade via World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS)

The World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) is software developed by the World Bank, in close collaboration with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Center (ITC), United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and World Trade Organization (WTO)..

WITS was a free software which allows you to access the major trade and tariff data compilations, inclulding the UN Comtrade database maintained by UNSD. You can obtain access to UN Comtrade data in WITS once you have obtained a subscription to UN Comtrade.

WITS is now fully web based. No more installation required.

For subscriptions to UN Comtrade, please contact subscriptions@un.org or visit: https://unp.un.org/Comtrade.aspx

Recently, some users with premium access rights to the UN Comtrade database who sometimes access the data through the World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) at http://wits.worldbank.org/wits/ had reported difficulties in re-establishing the connection after the WITS website was updated. To assist UN Comtrade/WITS users, following is a step-by-step guide on how to activate your account:
1. Register in the WITS website; they will email you your WITS password. Follow instructions in the email to start activation via the link provided.
2. Login to WITS with your email address and WITS password. Select "UN COMTRADE By Country Period" under the Quick Search tab.
3. Go to the end of the green line --- "For unlimited access, click here." To validate unlimited access rights, enter your email in the UN Comtrade screen; the next screen will contain the Authorization Code which you then "Copy to Clipboard." Proceed to #4
OR
Alternatively, you may secure your Authorization Code directly from the UN Comtrade site by going to the "My Account/Account Info" tab. Make sure your correct email is indicated at the top of the resulting page; otherwise, edit as necessary. Go to the bottom for your Authorization Code and "Copy to Clipboard." Proceed to #4
4. Paste the Authorization Code in the Comtrade Key box in WITS, check box and Confirm.
5. Comtrade is verified successfully and you are ready to access UN Comtrade through WITS.

Policy on use and re-dissemination of UN Comtrade data

comtrade_admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:20:35 GMT

Policy on use and re-dissemination of UN Comtrade data

Q: What is the policy on use and re-dissemination of UN Comtrade data?

A: Please visit the following link: http://comtrade.un.org/db/help/PolicyOnUseAndRedissemination.pdf

You may also refer to the attached a brochure that outlines our policy on use and re-dissemination of UN Comtrade data. For further information, please contact subscriptions@un.org and/or comtrade@un.org.

Why and How to subscribe?

comtrade_admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:23:30 GMT

Why and how to subscribe to UN Comtrade?

Certain users may like to have the possibility to download amounts of data above the limit of 100,000 records. For such users, premium access service to UN Comtrade has been created. These users shall subscribe to this premium access service.

All data are available through Public Data API. However, subscription enables access to personalisation and bulk download features. See full comparison between public and premium API at https://comtrade.un.org/data/dev/portal/#subscription

To subscribe, please go to https://shop.un.org/comtrade. Subscribers will be granted additional access to Comtrade data through World Bank WITS and/or CEPII BACI (+some analytical functionalities)

Portion of text below applied only to Legacy UN Comtrade
The UN Comtrade premium access service offers several features for personalization. Users can save the query (called Saved Queries), and save individual items as favorites, such as commodity favorites, reporter favorites, partner favorites and year favorites. Users can define their own country groups (which combine several reporters) or commodity groups. Global country groups have already been defined, so users can just attach them to favorites and use later in Basic Selection or Express Selection.

Users can customize their FrontPage and Download Format, or even submit a query into a batch (and an e-mail notification will be sent upon completion of the query). Users can thus avoid having a "Time out" message and have a "powerful" research tool.

For subscription rates, please visit the UN Publications website here.

Access to UN Comtrade is free of charge. As a guest user, you are able to browse data for free and use the database with limited features. For technical reasons there is a download limit of 100,000 records per data query, but there is no limit on the number of data queries a user can do. Nevertheless, there limitations for guest users are as follows:
• cannot create favorites or customized groups
• cannot save a query
• cannot execute elaborate data requests
• cannot set an alert notification for batch processing

As a subscriber to UN Comtrade premium access service, the following features are available for use:
• Saving frequently used commodities, reporters, partners and years and saving your queries. .
• Creating customized commodity and country groups. The system will calculate the aggregated value for the group. For example, you can create a commodity group called ‘manufactured goods’ by adding SITC sections 5 through 8 and subtracting division 68.
• Setting an alert notification and/or an auto batch. These features are built into your saved queries. Every night the saved data queries are checked against newly added or revised data. If new data were added then an alert notification is sent by email to the subscriber and the data request is automatically executed (as “auto batch”). For example, the subscriber can setup a data request regarding a particular set of countries; each time data are added to the UN Comtrade database for any of these countries the auto batch will be run.
• Customizing the front page of UN Comtrade according to your preferences
• Downloading the data a using direct download (up to 150,000 records) or batch download (up to 25 million records).
• Running a complex and heavy query via batch. You'll avoid the "time out" message. The link to the result file will be sent to you via email.
• Customizing the download format. You'll be able to select and change the order of the columns of your result file.
• Subscribing to monthly reports on organizational usage statistics.

Premium Access Service

Premium access service subscription, which is based on IP recognition, allows individual members of your organization to have automatic access with full functionalities including download of data.

The premium access service gives all of the features described above to all users of the organization. The advantages are:
• Each user is recognized by IP Address which enables automatic login.
• Each user can still have all of the personalization features of individual users (by specifying an email address), including batch submission, customized groups, alert notification, etc.
• The Master User can create sub-users with user name and password if access to UN Comtrade is required from outside the defined IP addresses.
• The IP users can make use of the organizational favorites, saved queries and download format set by Master Account.
• Unlimited download. For specific internal projects millions of records can be easily downloaded.

Premium Access Service Subscription Trial

Premium access service subscription trial is available for organizations / universities / companies. To obtain access for a limited trial period, please send a request to comtrade@un.org. In the request, you must include organization/company name & address, contact person and the IP addresses used by your organization to access to the Internet. Once we receive the IP addresses we will proceed with the setup of the free trial subscription.

Renewing Comtrade subscription

It is necessary to contact the UN Sales section (subscriptions@un.org) which is responsible for the administrative and financial handling of the subscriptions to UN Comtrade.

Renewal notification will be sent 30 days and 15 days before expiration date. Then, you would have to contact UN Sales section to renew your subscription.

Note for WITS Customer:
Because User Administration of UN Comtrade and WITS are currently mananged by seperate systems, WITS customer has to re-send all (WITS) email addresses along with renewal request.

Related Questions:

Q: How can I gain full access to UN Comtrade database?
A: You must subscribe to become a premium access service user and have full access to the UN Comtrade features. Unregistered users could use a guest account to login, but will have limited access.

Q: I'm a site license subscriber with unlimited download. Why does the system give me a message about charging my account?
A: As a site license subscriber with unlimited download, you can download as much records as you need (for internal use). This message is intended to warn individual users who have a download limit of a certain number of records. In addition, the message serves as a confirmation in order to avoid mistakes when submitting a batch request.

Q: Are your subscription charges explained on the website?
A: Yes, you can access the subscription rates at: https://shop.un.org/comtrade

Q: What is the status of my subscription? When will my account be activated?
A: You should be receiving an email notification as soon as your payment is submitted to our sales section.

Q: Please provide me with the online permission for international trade statistics
A: Online access to UN Comtrade database (imports/exports) is available by annual subscription. The annual subscription would allow you to download the bilateral merchandise trade for all available countries up to 5 digit SITC or up to 6 digit HS.
You can access UN Comtrade, free of charge, or by clicking on First Time User, which would allow you to browse and print a 1000-lines of data at a time. A subscription is needed in order to download data. UN Comtrade is accessed at http://comtrade.un.org/
The subscription levels and order form are also on the site page. Please refer to these links on how to fully use UN Comtrade:
- http://comtrade.un.org/db/help/FeaturesList.aspx
- http://comtrade.un.org/db/help/QuestionAnswer.aspx

Q: I already subscribed. When will I receive my userID and password?
A: It normally stakes up to 24 hours before a userID and password are issued. You will be notified by the UN Sales section (subscriptions@un.org), which is responsible for the administrative and financial handling of the subscriptions to UN Comtrade, as soon as they complete your order.

Q: How many IP addresses are allowed for an account? How many users can access the facility at a time?
A: You can submit any number of IP addresses. The system can handle many simultaneous users at a time.

Most Favorable Country List for UN Comtrade database

comtrade_admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:19:04 GMT

Most Favorable Country List for UN Comtrade database

Countries eligible for 75% discount for subscriptions to Comtrade Internet Web site

Note: Countries on this list, belong to the group of least developed countries as defined by UNCTAD in "The Least Developed Countries Report 2002"

A
Afghanistan
Angola
B
Bangladesh
Benin
Bhutan
Burkina Faso
Burundi
C
Cambodia
Cape Verde
Cent. Afr. Rep.
Chad
Comoros
D
Dem. Rep. of the Congo
Djibouti
E
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
G
Gambia
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
H
Haiti
K
Kiribati
L
Lao P.Dem.R.
Lesotho
Liberia

M
Madagascar
Malawi
Maldives
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Myanmar
N
Nepal
Niger
R
Rwanda
S
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Sudan
T
Togo
Tuvalu
U
Uganda
United Rep. of Tanzania
V
Vanuatu
Y
Yemen
Z
Zambia

UNSD Comtrade Database

Eligible Favored Country List for UN Comtrade database

comtrade_admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:11:57 GMT

Eligible Favored Country List for UN Comtrade database

Countries eligible for 50% discount for subscriptions to Comtrade Internet Web site

Note: The cut off criterion is based on the lowest GDP per capita among Developed Economies in 2000 (Malta - US$ 9142). Consequently, current cut off criterion is US$ 9142.00

A
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Anguilla
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Azerbaijan
B
Belarus
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia Herzegovina
Botswana
Br. Virgin Is
Brazil
Bulgaria
C
Cameroon
Chile
China
Colombia
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Czech Rep
D
Dominica
Dominican Republic
E
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
F
Fiji
G
Gabon
Georgia
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
H
Honduras
Hungary
I
India
Indonesia
Iran (Islamic Rep. of)
Iraq
J
Jamaica
Jordan
K
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Korea, D P Rp
Kyrgyzstan
L
Latvia
Lebanon
Libyan Arab Jamah.
Lithuania

M
Malaysia
Marshall Is
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova, Republic of
Mongolia
Montserrat
Morocco
N
N.Mariana Is
Namibia
Nauru
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Niue
O
Oman
P
Pakistan
Palau
Palestinian Territory, Occupied
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
R
Romania
Russian Federation
S
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts-Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Pierre-Miquelon
Saint Vincent-Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Serbia and Montenegro
Seychelles
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Rep.
T
Tajikistan
TFYR Macedonia
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Tokelau
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks,Caicos
U
Ukraine
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
V
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Z
Zimbabwe

UNSD Comtrade Database