If you are researching trade outside of the United States, the United Nations compiles the most comprehensive collection of cross-country trade statistics. UN trade data is useful for
measuring trade between any two countries in the world
identifying a country's top trading partners
identifying a country's principle exports or imports
U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized System is the most widely used trade classification system in the world. It is used by 177 countries to classify over 5,000 commodity groups, each identified with a 6-digit code.
SITC - Standard International Trade Classification
The SITC is the commodity classification system used by the United Nations for trade data. Countries use the 5-digit SITC to report export and import data to the United Nations. SITC classifies merchandise in approximately 3,000 commodity groups and is not as detailed as the Harmonized System (HS).
Comtrade, the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics database, is the most complete database for tracking cross-country movement of commodities. Data is collected from national statistical agencies around the world and standardized by the UN.
Trade by Country (Volume 1, Part 2) offers brief, two page, trade profiles for hundreds of countries. Tables show the top 10 imports and top 10 exports. Commodities are identified broadly using 4- digit HS code.
Trade by Product (Volume II, Part 2) offers trade profiles for products. Each two page commodity profile lists the top importing/exporting countries. Commodities are identified using 3-digit SITC codes. Graphs show the annual growth rate of exports and the trade balance by region. Fifteen years of data on the total value of imports/exports is included.
Trade by Product (Volume II, Part 3) contains profiles of service trade for the 11 main EBOPS categories.
