UN Comtrade Database Research Articles

The pattern of international trade between Bangladesh and USA: Heckscher–Ohlin and Rybczynski analysis

PurposeResearch based on Bangladesh–US trade data examines the Heckscher–Ohlin model and the Rybczynski hypothesis in this study.Design/methodology/approachOrdinary least square (OLS) techniques are used in this study, which relies on data from the NBER International Trade and Geography Data and the UN Comtrade Database for the years 2018 and 2008.FindingsThe research shows that trade between the United States and Bangladesh follows Heckscher–Ohlin and Rybcyzinski's trade predictions. According to the study, since labor is in plentiful supply in Bangladesh, Bangladesh's labor-based sectors have a higher US labor-to-capital import shares than US capital-based industries. As Bangladesh has not changed significantly from a labor-based country since 2008, it retains the same pattern even though the share of US unskilled labor-based sectors imported from Bangladesh decreased in 2018.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have a wide range of implications for both trade theory and policy debates between Bangladesh and the United States.

Evolutionary analysis of the global rare earth trade networks

This study used social network analysis, spatial measurement, and network statistical analysis to study the relationships among countries in the global rare earth trade. Using data on rare earth products from the UN Comtrade database, the global rare earth trade network and its evolving topological characteristics are analyzed for the period 1999–2020. Spatial correlation analysis using the global Moran index showed that countries tended to carry out rare earth trade with neighboring countries, and there were certain spatial aggregations in the trade patterns. A temporal exponential random graph model (TERGM) was used to analyze the influencing factors and evolution of the global rare earth trade, and network motif analysis was used to analyze the influence of network topology on the trading network structure. The results showed that the global rare earth trade model presented the following characteristics: trade from one core country to many other countries, reciprocity between trading countries, and trade around near neighboring rare earth-rich countries. Other factors, such as countries with the same GDP levels and World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries, influenced the global rare earth trade but not the formation of the rare earth trade network. In examining the temporal dependence of rare earth trade networks over a 22-year period, it was found that the linkages of rare earth trade networks among countries remained relatively stable, pointing to the long-term dependence of countries with scarce rare earth resources on resource-rich countries.

Characterizing the Structural Evolution of Cereal Trade Networks in the Belt and Road Regions: A Network Analysis Approach.

Cereal trade is essential for economic and commercial cooperation among countries along the “Belt and Road” (BRI). It helps ensure food security and contributes to building a community of interests and destinies for the BRI countries. Based on the UN Comtrade database, this study, using a network analysis approach, investigates the structural characteristics and spatiotemporal dynamics of cereal trade networks among the “Belt and Road” countries. Results show that: (1) The cereal trade among the BRI countries has formed well-connected and complex trade networks, and the “Belt and Road” initiative has significantly promoted cereal trade networks among the BRI countries. (2) The backbone structures of cereal trade networks along the BRI are in geographical proximity. India, Russia, and Ukraine are the most important trading partners and absolute core nodes in the trade networks, influencing the entire cereal trade networks. (3) The BRI cereal trade networks exhibit significant core-periphery structures, with considerable power asymmetries between the countries reflecting food supply and demand differences. In general, the BRI cereal trade networks have developed from relatively diversified to polarized. Supply chains in the cereal trade network are dominated by a few large countries and are fragile, with weak resilience and low resistance to risk. Therefore, governments should continue to strengthen regional cooperation, optimize cereal trade network structure, enhance their reserve capacity, and build a stronger system to guarantee food security and prevent risk. All these measures will support the food security of the “Belt and Road” countries.

Monetary Value of Live Trade in a Commonly Traded Primate, the Long-Tailed Macaque, Based on Global Trade Statistics

Non-human primates (primates) are regarded as key research subjects for pre-clinical trials of several drugs aimed to alleviate human suffering. It has long been suggested that the predominant species in the international trade in live primates for use in research is the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). However, little is still known about the value of this international trade. Whilst the international trade to supply the requirement for biomedical testing is known to encourage illegal wildlife trade, we lack a detailed understanding of the overall value and magnitude of this trade. Such information is vital to facilitate the design of effective conservation strategies in range countries, in order to mitigate the exploitation of wild populations by organized crime networks. Here, data from CITES and the UN Comtrade databases were combined to calculate the value of this trade. We also compared the number of individual primates traded as reported in the two databases to investigate possible correlations. Results show that, from 2010 to 2019, the international trade in long-tailed macaques constituted a market worth of ~US $1.25 billion. We found a positive correlation between individual primates traded in the UN Comtrade Database and individual long-tailed macaques reported in the CITES Trade Database, suggesting that we can use the UN Comtrade database to investigate values and magnitude of the international legal trade in wildlife, and that legal trade in live primates is primarily constituted of long-tailed macaques alone.

From the United States to China? A trade perspective to reveal the structure and dynamics of global electronic‐telecommunications

AbstractDespite contributions, most of the studies on electronic‐telecommunications trade are conducted within the framework of a global value chain and mainly based on an enterprise‐level. The global trade structure and dynamics of electronic‐telecommunications are still mysterious. In this paper, by deriving trade data of electronic‐telecommunications between countries (regions) from the UN Comtrade Database, characteristics in product, space and network of the global electronic‐telecommunications trade from 2000 to 2017 are explored, and the factors influencing its evolution. The results indicate that telecommunications equipment is gradually replacing electronic integrated circuits, thus leading the development of global trade on electronic‐telecommunications. In space, the global import pattern of electronic‐telecommunications has always been a tri‐polar pattern dominated by Asia‐Pacific, Europe, and North America, while the geography of global electronic‐telecommunications export has undergone fundamental changes, most notably the rise of the East Asia region represented by Mainland China. The global trade center in electronic and communication products has changed from USA to China. In terms of network structure, the global electronic‐telecommunications trade network continues to expand, showing significant small‐world and core‐peripheral characteristics, and a more competitive multi‐centric core is observed. In addition, Quadratic Assignment Procedure analysis indicates that culture proximity, innovation differences, and manufacturing differences have a positive effect on the international trade, while geographical distance, economic gap, openness gap, trade gap, and infrastructure gap play negative roles.

A network analysis of global cephalopod trade

The global trade in cephalopods is a multi-billion dollar business involving the fishing and production of more than ten commercially valuable species. It also contributes, in whole or in part, to the subsistence and economic livelihoods of thousands of coastal communities around the world. The importance of cephalopods as a major cultural, social, economic, and ecological resource has been widely recognised, but research efforts to describe the extent and scope of the global cephalopod trade are limited. So far, there are no specific regulatory and monitoring systems in place to analyse the traceability of the global trade in cephalopods at the international level. To understand who are the main global players in cephalopod seafood markets, this paper provides, for the first time, a global overview of the legal trade in cephalopods. Twenty years of records compiled in the UN COMTRADE database were analysed. The database contained 115,108 records for squid and cuttlefish and 71,659 records for octopus, including commodity flows between traders (territories or countries) weighted by monetary value (USD) and volume (kg). A theoretical network analysis was used to identify the emergent properties of this large trade network by analysing centrality measures that revealed key insights into the role of traders. The results illustrate that three countries (China, Spain, and Japan) led the majority of global market movements between 2000 and 2019. Based on volume and value, as well as the number of transactions, 11 groups of traders were identified. The leading cluster consisted of only eight traders, who dominated the cephalopod market in Asia (China, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam), Europe (the Netherlands, and Spain), and the USA. This paper identifies the countries and territories that acted as major importers or exporters, the best-connected traders, the hubs or accumulators, the modulators, the main flow routes, and the weak points of the global cephalopod trade network over the last 20 years. This knowledge of the network is crucial to move towards an environmentally sustainable, transparent, and food-secure global cephalopod trade.

The EU-China trade in goods in the years 2004–2020 – is the EU exploiting its comparative advantage?

Purpose – The study aims to identify the EU’s and China’s comparative advantage in reciprocal trade and indicate the relations between the structure of this trade and such advantage. Research method – The study used Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage index (RCA), which shows the competitive position in the exports of particular commodities compared to a selected partner. The calculations were based on 2004–2020 data, obtained from the UN Comtrade Database. Results – The results show that in the years under examination the EU-China bilateral trade followed a trend unfavourable for the EU (with an increasing negative balance). The most important commodities were machinery and equipment and they manifested a negative change for the EU. It meant that at the beginning of the analysed period (2004–2006) the EU had a comparative advantage in their exports, which was lost in 2007 and had not been regained by the end of the analysed years. Despite this change, machinery and equipment remained the dominant group of goods exported by the EU to China. Originality/value/implications/recommendations – The answer to the question posed in the title is that in bilateral trade China makes better use of its comparative advantage in exports, while the European Union has the imports structure that is more compatible with its comparative advantage. The EU countries shape the structure of their imports more effectively and, in the vast majority of cases, they purchase goods that they are not competitive with. On the other hand, they definitely underperform as suppliers to the Chinese market, selling goods (mainly machinery and equipment) in which they ceased to be competitive years ago.

Environmental Information Disclosure and Export Product Quality: Extension of Product Quality Heterogeneity Model and a DID Analysis on China's Industrial Data

Firstly, based on the product quality heterogeneity model, this paper analyzes the influence mechanism of environmental information disclosure on the quality of industrial export products. Secondly, using China's industrial data and HS-6 quantile product data in UN Comtrade database from 2005 to 2016, this paper constructs a generalized DID model to investigate the impact of environmental information disclosure on the quality of China's industrial export products. The results show that: environmental information disclosure significantly improves the quality of China's industrial export products. The promotion effect is greater in industries with low financing constraint, strong profitability, high labor intensity and high degree of government control. In addition, environmental information disclosure can improve the quality of export products by stimulating innovation and improving productivity, and reduce the quality of export products by increasing the production costs.

Initial assessment of imports of chlorinated paraffins into Nigeria and the need of improvement of the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions

Short-chain and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs/MCCPs) are of concern due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. SCCPs were listed in 2017 as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Stockholm Convention and Rotterdam Convention for Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. MCCPs are evaluated in the POPs Reviewing Committee for listing. Studies in Africa demonstrate high SCCP/MCCP levels in house dust and human milk. Therefore, this study undertook an initial assessment of the production and import situation in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has not assessed SCCPs yet and has no registered exemptions for SCCPs and therefore should not produce or use SCCPs. Also, Nigeria has not notified Rotterdam Convention of PIC procedure and, therefore, no SCCP should be imported into Nigeria. Since no local production of SCCPs/MCCPs was observed in Nigeria, this study therefore compiled data on importation of SCCPs/MCCPs and products which may likely contain these chemicals from the UN Comtrade Database for the period 1996 to 2018. Despite the listing of SCCPs in the Rotterdam Convention, there is still no specific Harmonized System (HS) codes for SCCPs/MCCPs. This study therefore used HS codes of product categories known to contain SCCPs/MCCPs. HS substance categories under which SCCP/MCCPs are usually imported include plasticisers and other product categories that amounted to 229,779 and 518,342 tonnes respectively but without specific information on the type of plasticiser. About 39% of PVC and rubber imports of 2,683,015 tonnes and 3,516,052 tonnes respectively contain plasticisers. Based on the SCCP and MCCP impact factors from literature for China, the highest amount of SCCP (33,712 tonnes) was imported in the different PVC products while rubber products accounted to 1386 tonnes and PUR foam to 2331 tonnes. The amount of imported MCCPs in PVC products (25,599 tonnes) and rubber products (32,317 tonnes) was in the same order of magnitude while MCCP imported in PUR foam was estimated to 2020 tonnes. At the end of life (EoL), these product categories most likely contain appreciable amount of SCCPs possibly above Basel Convention low POP limit. This will hamper recycling and circular economy for these waste categories and generate POPs stockpiles/wastes that are difficult to manage/destroy in Africa. Hence there is an urgent need for specific HS Codes for SCCPs and industrial POPs currently produced/used for better control. Presently, products containing SCCPs are not labelled and are imported in huge quantities into Nigeria, without monitoring. In its current form this rather conveys a pseudo-safety for industrial POPs that do not exist. The Rotterdam Convention needs to establish specific HS codes for POPs for an appropriate PIC procedure and effective control of industrial POPs still produced. Furthermore, products containing SCCPs (and other POPs) require labelling and should also be covered under the Rotterdam Convention. The study highlights that Nigeria should urgently update the NIP for chemicals listed from 2015 to 2019 with a detailed SCCP inventory and develop monitoring capacity for market surveys. The Rotterdam Convention does not function fully and need to significantly improve to assure PIC procedure.

Revealed Trade Competitiveness between Korea and Japan. Is It Viable to Deepen Economic Integration?

Purpose – This study examines the trade competitiveness and complementarity of the economic structures of Korea and Japan. We focus on the sectors likely to be directly affected if the export control measures introduced by Japan on its exports of semiconductor machinery and raw materials to Korea in July 2019 are prolonged. Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis applies Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), the Normalized Revealed Comparative Advantage (NRCA), the Bilateral Revealed Comparative Advantage (BRCA), the Relative Trade Advantage (RTA), and the Trade Complementarity indices to examine Korea’s and Japan’s trade competitiveness, bilaterally and globally. The empirical analysis focuses on forty-six major traded sectors and five Electronic integrated circuit-related industries, based on two-digit and six-digit data, respectively. Data applied is from the UNComtrade database. Findings – Expectantly, where Korea has bilateral trade competitiveness, Japan has a disadvantage, and vice versa. A sharp decline in the calculated results for sector HS854232 (Electric, integrated circuit sector) of Korea in 2019 in all indices compared to other periods is identified. Additionally, empirical results indicate that the export control measures by Japan have an immediate impact on Korea’s trade competitiveness, especially the Electronic integrated circuits and memory sector. Research Implications – This study provides an impact assessment of the export control measures imposed by Japan on its exports of semiconductor raw materials and machinery to Korea on the trade competitiveness of Korea, focusing on the Electric, integrated circuit sector at six-digit HS product classification. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically analyze the impact of the export control measures by Japan on its exports of semiconductor raw materials on the trade competitiveness of Korea at the six-digit HS product code.

Factors affecting fluctuations in China's aquatic product exports to Japan, the USA, SouthKorea, Southeast Asia, and the EU.

Seafood has important health benefits, and the growing demand for aquatic products has stimulated rapid trade development. Using 2000–2018 data from the UN Comtrade Database, this study first introduced the export scale, product structure, and market distribution of China’s aquatic products. Then, using an extended constant market share model, we investigated the factors affecting fluctuations in China’s aquatic product exports to the USA, Japan, South Korea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the European Union (EU). Import demand was found to be the most important factor affecting China’s aquatic product exports. Moreover, China’s export structure and market distribution for aquatic products have become increasingly consistent with global demand. In recent years, China’s aquatic product competitiveness has declined while its market destinations have diversified. Regarding China’s aquatic product types, the main focus has been on labor- and resource-intensive products with low competitiveness. More recently, however, China’s competitiveness of product types 0371 and 0372 (Standard International Trade Classification) has been improving in the world market. To further develop China’s aquatic product exports, policy should aim to maintain the fisheries ecosystem, encourage seafood operators to adopt good practices, increase investment in science and technology, overcome technical barriers to trade, strengthen research on the needs, preferences, and requirements of major importing countries, expand domestic demand, and strengthen international cooperation.

Comparative advantage in Vietnam's agricultural exports to Australia

This study determines the comparative advantage of Vietnam's agricultural products based on the index of comparative advantage (RCA - Revealed Comparative Advantage). The research results on the UNComtrade database show that Vietnam maintained 8 commodity groups with revealed comparative advantage in the period 2000 - 2020. Contributing to the increase of Vietnam's exports to Australia one partly due to strong market demand, appropriate industry structure, and a significant part from the factor of competitive advantage, especially in the period 2007 - 2015. Vietnam's exports to the Australian market are those with comparative advantages. Therefore, with the trend of trade liberalization increasingly strong in the region, Vietnam has the opportunity to take advantage of market factors and this process will promote the creation of very good trade between Vietnam and some economies in the region. Keywords: comparative advantage, agriculture products, RCA

Post-Brexit Power of European Union From the World Trade Network Analysis

We develop the Google matrix analysis of the multiproduct world trade network obtained from the UN COMTRADE database in recent years. The comparison is done between this new approach and the usual Import-Export description of this world trade network. The Google matrix analysis takes into account the multiplicity of trade transactions thus highlighting in a better way the world influence of specific countries and products. It shows that after Brexit, the European Union of 27 countries has the leading position in the world trade network ranking, being ahead of USA and China. Our approach determines also a sensitivity of trade country balance to specific products showing the dominant role of machinery and mineral fuels in multiproduct exchanges. It also underlines the growing influence of Asian countries.

Marketing potential of the Sino-Russian bilateral agricultural export market

China and Russia are important agricultural countries in the world. Expanding exports and increasing sales of agricultural products play an important role in the economic development of both countries. To understand the current situation of agricultural exports of the two countries and formulate strategies to expand the marketing of agricultural products, this paper uses the UN Comtrade Database 2009-2018 on Chinese and Russian bilateral agricultural export sales and other trade data to calculate the (expansion margin) and (price margin) of agricultural exports, (quantity margin), to analyze the types, prices, and quantities of exported agricultural products. The results show that China exports to Russia mainly labor-intensive types of agricultural products such as processed agricultural and horticultural products, accounting for 87.46% of total agricultural exports on average. The increase in exports is mainly due to the continuous increase in the prices of exported agricultural products. Russia exports to China mainly land-intensive types of agricultural products such as animal products, grains, oilseeds and fat products, which accounted for an average of 79.07% of total agricultural exports. The increase in exports was mainly due to the continuous increase in types and quantities of agricultural products to develop the export potential of agricultural products and expand sales. In addition, China should expand the types and quantities of agricultural products exported, and Russia should increase the added value of agricultural products and raise the export prices of agricultural products.

The rise and fall of countries on world trade web: A network perspective

World Trade Web is the backbone of the global economy system. Identifying influential countries and regions in such a network and revealing their importance evolution over time are helpful for understanding global economic development. Here, we collect the worldwide trade data in commodities of 232 countries and regions from 1996 to 2015 from the UN Comtrade Database, based on which a series of weighted world trade networks are constructed. Since the networks are almost fully connected, most of the existing methods may fail in identifying the important nodes. To tackle this issue, we apply the generalized Degree, [Formula: see text]-index and Coreness (DHC) theorem to the constructed networks and use weighted degree and coreness to quantify nodes’ importance, since they can make full use of the weight information to accurately evaluate nodes’ significance. Then, we analyze the rankings of countries and regions measured by various indicators, whose differences and advantages are also compared. We further present the evolution of countries’ significance over time, two typical groups of countries. The results show that the influence of a country or region has a strong correlation with its economic scale, but a relatively weak correlation with the diversity of its trade structure. Finally, based on the findings, we put forward corresponding strategies to enhance the trade influence for different types of countries.

CITES and beyond: Illuminating 20 years of global, legal wildlife trade

Nature has the potential to provide wide-ranging economic contributions to society – from ecosystem services to providing income to communities via fair trade of resources. Unsustainable trade in wildlife, however, threatens biodiversity and its ability to support communities and a functioning planet. It is therefore important to have clear systems in place for tracing traded wildlife. Monitoring legal wildlife trade in all species is as important as it is for trade in protected species, since flows of the legal trade correlate with, and provide cover for, illegally traded wildlife. The majority of wildlife trade research is focused on species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The concurrent, considerably larger legal wildlife trade in both CITES and non-CITES-listed species, however, remains unexamined – despite the fact that if mismanaged, it can lead to over-exploitation. Here we analyzed 20 years of data from the UN Comtrade database, aiming to detail the scale, composition, and trends across all taxa of wildlife traded legally, and to indicate opportunities for improvement. From 1997 to 2016 the value of this trade totaled between US$2.9 and 4.4 trillion. Of this, $2.9 trillion wildlife was traded under “specific” codes that specify taxonomic Order and below, while around $1.4 trillion was traded under “broad” codes that declare wildlife to taxonomic Class and above. The top 10 trading nations/territories accounted for 51.4% of the total value of wildlife traded. The top commercial categories for wildlife trade were seafood (82%), furniture (7%), and fashion (furs and hides) (6%). In these three major categories, vague commodity codes such as “Fish”, “Tropical wood”, and “Other furs” were used to declare 23%, 24% and 26% of items traded, respectively – despite encompassing thousands of species. This lack of granularity imperils biodiversity as trade cannot be comprehensively monitored. We recommend a review of what species are traded under these broad code descriptions, and a distillation of codes to taxonomic Family or Genus level in the next HS Code review period, particularly in the pet, traditional Chinese medicine and furniture categories. In addition, interdisciplinary research into legal wildlife trade should be increased to provide forensic, policy, economic and social solutions to improve trade management.

The determinants of world wheat trade, 1963-2010: A gravity equation approach

The international configuration of the world wheat trade has undergone sig-nificant transformations over the past fifty years. The volume of total wheattrade has increased fivefold, new exporting leaders have appeared and a largeimport market has emerged in less developed countries. The aim of this paper is to iden-tify the main drivers of those changing patterns. For that purpose, we estimated a grav-ity equation based on data for bilateral trade flows. Information on the wheat trade wasobtained from the UN-COMTRADE database (2014). We also accessed other sourcesto include explanatory variables such as gross domestic product (GDP) of the export-ing and importing countries, GDP per capita, wheat production, different measures ofcultural distance and proximity, current trade agreements, etc. The results are discussedand interpreted using a cliometric approach.

Measurement and Analysis of Agricultural Products Trade Level between China and Ukraine

The analysis of intra-industry trade and inter-industry trade in international trade in different regions can fully explain the status of export trade and the advantages and disadvantages of products in different regions. The purpose of this research is to analyze the overall agricultural trade situation between China and Ukraine and the nature of the specific trade. To analyze agricultural import and export trade data between China and Ukraine, the author uses the Grubel-Lloyd index (intra-industry trade index) and the Brulhart index (the marginal inter-industry trade index in a specific period). The Grubel-Lloyd index measures the intra-industry trade of a particular product. The Brulhart index is closely related to that of intra-industry trade, that being the export and import of the same items, but concerns changes in exports and imports between two points in time as opposed to their values at a given point in time. The research is based on data for 2011-2020, which are contained in the UN Comtrade database. The research results show that agricultural trade between China and Ukraine is mutually beneficial. The difference in agricultural resource endowment and agricultural structure directly affects the trade of agricultural products between the two countries. The agricultural products exported from China to Ukraine are mainly unprocessed or primary processed agricultural products. Seafood, meat products, fruits, and vegetables account for a large proportion. The main imports are also primary processed agricultural products such as grains and vegetable oils. The agricultural product trade between the two countries is mainly based on intra-industry trade, and the difference in agricultural technology level is an important factor in determining bilateral agricultural exports.

Crisis contagion in the world trade network

We present a model of worldwide crisis contagion based on the Google matrix analysis of the world trade network obtained from the UN Comtrade database. The fraction of bankrupted countries exhibits an on-off phase transition governed by a bankruptcy threshold κ related to the trade balance of the countries. For κ>κc, the contagion is circumscribed to less than 10% of the countries, whereas, for κ<κc, the crisis is global with about 90% of the countries going to bankruptcy. We measure the total cost of the crisis during the contagion process. In addition to providing contagion scenarios, our model allows to probe the structural trading dependencies between countries. For different networks extracted from the world trade exchanges of the last two decades, the global crisis comes from the Western world. In particular, the source of the global crisis is systematically the Old Continent and The Americas (mainly US and Mexico). Besides the economy of Australia, those of Asian countries, such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, are the last to fall during the contagion. Also, the four BRIC are among the most robust countries to the world trade crisis.

Foreign Trade in Goods and Services: Comparing the Data Sources

The paper focuses on the primary sources of information on Russia’s foreign trade. The objective of the study is to describe the main sources of data on foreign trade in goods and services, and compare them according to such criteria as time horizon, specification by types of goods and services, the breakdown of data by country and region, and the data format.The methodology tools rely on the possibility of applying databases for various user tasks (such as operative analysis, international comparisons, and studying the structure of foreign trade by types of goods and services and by partner countries).The author shows that none of the databases meets all the criteria. To obtain a high-quality result, it is necessary to combine information from different sources. The paper demonstrates the problems of the incompleteness of the monthly data in the UN Comtrade database and uncertainty with the classifier at the junction of 2016-2017 in the Federal Customs Service TSVT database. The author reveals the data gaps in the UN Comtrade database for Russia for some commodity groups. The article presents a comparison of Bank of Russia, OECD, WTO, and UN publications.The conclusions are given in the form of recommendations on the use of the databases depending on the users’ requirements according to the speed of data publication, availability of data for international comparisons, and the need to reflect the structure of Russia’s foreign trade by type of goods and services.The analysis reveals individual structural components of foreign trade turnover and preferences in the use of information bases. For trade in goods, the author recommends a simultaneous usage of the Federal Customs Service TSVT database and the UN Comtrade database; for trade in services the use of the Bank of Russia, OECD or WTO databases (depending on the user’s task).