Individual Article:
Comtrade offers a comprehensive collection of online trade data
The UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) is a new electronic resource that contains the most comprehensive collection of trade data available. Comtrade is produced by the United Nations Statistical Division and contains data for more than 120 countries, covering more than 90 percent of world trade. This information will be of significant value to those interested in trade and the global economy.
Comtrade is available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/comtrade/ or through the record in the Electronic Resources database. Using the link in the ER is recommended for remote access because it will prompt you to connect to NUnet. Once you are connected to NUnet, Comtrade will recognize you as a subscriber through IP authentication. Non-subscribers can retrieve data in Comtrade, but only subscribers can download data and save queries. It is also possible to create an individual log-in that establishes you as a subscriber.
Commodities are classified according to the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) and the Harmonized System (HS). Most data is converted to both classifications and their various revisions, making it easy to do international comparisons. Queries can be done in shortcut, basic, and express modes. There is also a feature called Comtrade Explorer that functions like a search engine of the dataset. Data availability can be viewed by reporters, commodities, or years. Countries and commodities can be aggregated into groups. It is also possible to analyze trends with data for some countries going back to 1962. The data can be downloaded in a comma-delimited file format. Comtrade also includes trade profile reports of countries and commodities.
For assistance using Comtrade, please contact the Government Publications Department in person, by phone (491-3130), or by email (govpubs@northwestern.edu).
Catherine Morse