Institute of Statistics (INSTAT)

External Trade Statistics Unit

Rr. Vllazen Huta, Ndertesa 35, Hyrja 1, ZIP Code, 1017, Tirana, Albania

International trade in goods statistics (ITGS) published by INSTAT measure the value and quantity of goods traded between Albania. ‘Goods’ means all movable property including electricity. ‘European’ means that the statistics are compiled on the basis of the concepts and definitions set out in INSTAT and EU legislation.

Trade by invoicing currency (TIC) data are part of the information available for extra-EU trade. The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Data by invoicing currency can be used for instance to explore the use of the euro in the EU’s international trade, to compare it with the role of the United States dollar (USD) or to analyse the role of the euro in the euro area and in the EU. These statistics are very useful to central banks, including the European Central Bank, for comparing the euro with other major international currencies. These data are also used by financial market segments or foreign investors.

Statistical data elements:

• reporting country;
• partner area;
• Flow;
• product;
• invoicing currency;
• reference year;
• indicator

Metadata:

• frequency;
• observation status;
• confidentiality status;
• decimals;
• unit multiplier;
• unit of mesaure;
• embargo time

Product classification

The Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) is managed by the United Nations and correlated with the subheadings of the Harmonised System. SITC Rev. 4 comprises 2 970 basing headings which are aggregated into 262 groups, 67 divisions and 10 sections. TIC data are based on the section level complemented by the division 33 ‘oil”.

Country classification

The ISO alpha-2 (ISO 3166) is used by Customs to collect the international trade data. The ‘Nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Union and statistics of trade between Member States’, known as the ‘Geonomenclature’, is used to disseminate statistics on exchanges of goods. TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat, at an aggregated partner level: partner ‘extra-EU’ for TIC data reported by the EU Member States and partner ‘world’ for the TIC data reported by the EFTA and enlargement countries. See the publication Geonomenclature applicable to European statistics on international trade in goods for more information (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/international-trade-in-goods/publications#methotherpub).

The scope of TIC data is the same as for monthly detailed data on trade in goods. They cover all goods entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the statistical territories of the country. Note that the statistical territory of Albania corresponds to its customs territory. 

As ITGS in general, TIC data cover all sectors of the economy.

Reporting country – Except for some specific goods like vessels and aircraft, ITGS follow the physical movements of the goods. A country should record an import when goods enter its statistical territory and an export when goods leave that territory except if those goods are in simple transit.

Partner country – At detailed level, this is the last known country of destination for exports and the country of origin for imports. However individual partner countries are not kept in the dissemination of data by invoicing currency. They are replaced by the partner area  ‘extra-EU’.

Product – Goods are primarily classified by commodity code as set out in the EU Combined Nomenclature. TIC data are compiled on the basis of a correspondence table enabling the transposition of detailed data collected according to the Combined Nomenclature into the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).

TIC data transmitted to Eusrostat, period 2017-2019 

Product groups

• total trade: code ‘_T’;
• Raw materials without oil (SITC sections 0-4, excluding division 33);
• Oil (SITC division 33);
• Manufactured products (SITC sections 5-8).

Currency The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:

• euro;
• national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area;
• US dollar;
• ‘other’ (i.e. aggregated group of currencies of all non-EU countries except the United States).

TIC data transmitted to Eusrostat, period 2020 

Product groups

• total trade: code ‘_T’;
• Raw materials without oil (SITC sections 0-4, excluding division 33);
• Oil (SITC division 33);
• Manufactured products (SITC sections 5-8).

Currency The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:

• euro;
• national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area;
• US dollar;
• ‘other’ (i.e. aggregated group of currencies of all non-EU countries except the United States); 
• unknown'.

Note on ‘unknown’ currency: Trade for which the currency is unknown should be distributed over the individual currencies or groups of currencies proportionally to their relative share except if it is known that such a distribution would skew the data in a too significant extent. In such a case, the code UNK ‘Unknown’ could exceptionally be used. 

TIC data transmitted to Eusrostat, period 2021-2022

Product codes: 

• total trade: code ‘_T’; 
• food and live animals: code ‘SITC0’;
• beverages and tobacco: code ‘SITC1’;
• crude materials, inedible, except fuels: code ‘SITC2’;
• mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials: code ‘SITC3’;
• animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes: code ‘SITC4’;
• chemicals and related products, n.e.s.: code ‘SITC5’;
• manufactured goods classified chiefly by material: code ‘SITC6’;
• machinery and transport equipment: code ‘SITC7’;
• miscellaneous manufactured articles: code ‘SITC8’;
• commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC: code ‘SITC9’; 
• oil according to SITC division 33: code ‘SITC33’.

  Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:

• euro;
• UK pound;
• national currencies of non- euro area;
• US dollar;
• brazilian real
• Canadian dollar,
• Swiss franc
• Chinese yuan renminbi
• Indian rupee
• Japanese yen
• South Korean won
• Mexican peso
• Norwegiankrone
• Russian ruble
• Singapore dollar
• Turkish Lira
• Albanian lek
• unknown currency
• Not specified.

The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in the reporting country on the condition that the customs procedure is of statistical relevance.

The statistical population comprise all the legal or natural persons who lodged a customs declaration with the Custom offices.

External trade statistics in goods cover trade flows entering or living the statistical territory of Albania (country level).

TIC data disseminated by Eurostat

See document TIC Quality indicators.

TIC data disseminated at national level

Not available.

Not applicable.

For data transmission to Eurostat – Trade values (in national currency units) by invoicing currency. The value of traded goods is calculated at the national frontier, on a FOB (free on board) basis for exports and a CIF (cost, insurance, freight) basis for imports. Hence, only incidental expenses (freight, insurance) are included and they are incurred for:

• exports in the part of the journey located on the territory of the country where the goods are exported from;
• imports in the part of the journey located outside the territory of the country where the goods are imported to.

Theoretically, the reference period for the information on international trade in goods transactions should be the calendar month of export or import of the goods. However, in practice the reference period is generally the calendar month during which the customs declaration is accepted by the Sustom offices.

The reference years for which TIC data are disseminated result from the aggregation of monthly figures from January to December.

National legislation 

Law No. 17/2018 “On official statistics”

Based on Annex 1 of the Law, INSTAT is mandated as the responsible body  that produces official statistics, for the field: 3.5  Foreign trade;

Law No. 30/2022 “On the approval of the Official Statistics Program for the period 2022-2026”

Specifies in details the statistical activities and statistical indicators that INSTAT will produce based on the EU requirements for: 3.5  Foreign trade;

Memorandum of Understanding with General Directorate of Customs, date 06.07.2005.

DCM No. 541 Dt. 29.09.2021 on the nomenclature of countries and territories  on international trade in goods statistics and on the geographical breakdown for other business statistics

EU statistical legislation 

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1225 specifying the arrangements for the data exchanges and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as regards the Member State of extra-Union export and the obligations of reporting units
• Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1704 further specifying the details for the statistical information to be provided by tax and customs authorities and amending Annexes V and VI of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152

Not applicable.

LAW NO.17/2018 ON OFFICIAL STATISTICS  Article 31 on Statistics Law reads as follows: Data collected, processed and stored for the production of official statistics shall be treated by INSTAT, statistical agencies and any organization or person mandated by them, as strictly confidential when they allow statistical units to be identified, either directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information that has not already been made public on other grounds. All employees of the bodies/controllers mentioned in the first paragraph of this point, who are aware about the data they use during they daily work, are obligated to maintain the confidentiality of reliability even after the end of their working function. Direct identification means when a statistical unit is directly identified from its name or address or any officially allocated and commonly known identification number. When data processing is made in a manner that allows the identification of the data subject, the data should immediately be encrypted in order for the subjects to be no longer 

Data by invoicing currency are not detailed enough to make it possible to identify a specific trader. Therefore no specific data treatment applies.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.1 ‘Release calendar’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency (TIC)’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.2 ‘Release calendar access’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.3 ‘Release policy - user access’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.See item 9 ‘Frequency of dissemination’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.See item 10.1 ‘Dissemination format - News release’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.2 ‘Dissemination format - Publications’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.3 ‘Dissemination format - online database’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See document TIC Quality indicators.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.6 ‘Documentation on methodology' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

100%

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.See item 10.7 ‘Quality management - documentation’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.See item 12.1 ‘Relevance - User Needs’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 12.2 ‘Relevance - User Satisfaction’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See item 12.3 ‘Completeness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

See item 13.1 ‘Accuracy - overall' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

See item 13.2 ‘Sampling error' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

Not applicable.

See item 13.3 ‘Non-sampling error' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See concepts 14.1.1 and 14.1.2.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

Not applicable.

See concept 14.2.1 for the time lag between the actual delivery of the TIC data and the target date when it should have been delivered.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

See item 15.1 ‘Comparability - geographical' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

Not applicable.

There were no changes, so the data are comparable in the entire series from 2017 to 2022.

TIC data disseminated by Eurostat

The time series from 2017 to 2021 is available.

See item 15.3 ‘Coherence - cross domain' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See item 15.4 ‘Coherence - internal' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.

TIC tables for 2022 have been prepared in accordance with European bussines statistics compilers' manual for trade by invoicing curencies 2023 edition.

To prepare tables in the latest format, it is used access. 

As data are not disseminated at national level,there is no formal revision policy.

No data revixions made

Not available. 

TIC data are derived from the information collected via customs declarations which includes invoicing currencies.

Collection of trade in goods data and invoicing currency: every month via customs declarations.

The standard source of information on trade transactions is the customs declaration submitted by businesses and, in some cases, by private individuals involved in an international transaction of goods with other countries. The customs declaration  — the Single Administrative Document (SAD) — is in electronic format.

TIC data are nor diseeminate in national level, are only disseminated by Eurostat.

TIC data disseminated by Eurostat have passed the following quality checks:

• Intra-dataset checks: completeness of the dataset and uniqueness of the records, validity of the codes, validity of code combinations across the different dimensions, inter-record consistency checks;
• Intra-domain check: check of the coherence between trade values published in the TIC dataset and trade values coming from aggregated and detailed trade in goods data.

At national level:

Not applicable

At European level:

The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of the reporting country is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values. Additionally, Eurostat derives TIC data for the EU and the euro area as reporting entities by aggregating the trade values reported by the Member States.

At national level:

No imputation.

At European level:

No imputation is made by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.