HM Revenue & Customs

Trade Statistics and Customs Analysis

HM Revenue & Customs, 14 Westfield Avenue, Stratford Regional Centre, London E20 1HZ

International trade in goods statistics (ITGS) published by Eurostat measure the value and quantity of goods traded between the EU Member States (intra-EU trade) and goods traded by the EU Member States with non-EU countries (extra-EU trade). ‘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 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 dimensions available for TIC data:

• reporting country;
• partner country;
• reference period;
• trade flows;
• product; and
• currency.

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 ‘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 collect detailed statistics on exchanges of goods. TIC data are only disseminated 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 extra-EU trade in goods. They cover all goods entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the national statistical territory and for which the trading partner is a non-EU country. Note that the statistical territory of Northern Ireland corresponds to its customs territory.

As ITGS in general, TIC data covers 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 are available by three product groups: Raw materials without oil (SITC sections 0-4, excluding division 33), Oil (SITC division 33) and Manufactured products (SITC sections 5-8). Additionally, since 2022 reference period, TIC data are available also by 10 individual SITC sections.

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

Common currencies to be reported whatever the data source used:

• Euro (‘EUR’)
• UK pound sterling (‘GBP’)
• US dollar (‘USD’)
• National currencies of non-euro area Member States (‘XU3’)
• Other not specified currencies (‘_X’)
• Unknown currency (‘_U’)
• Total ‘_T’

Additional invoicing currency breakdown if the data source is the customs declaration:

• Brazilian real (‘BRL’)
• Canadian dollar (‘CAD’)
• Swiss franc (‘CHF’)
• Chinese yuan renminbi (‘CNY’)
• Indian rupee (‘INR’)
• Japanese yen (‘JPY’)
• South Korean won (‘KRW’)
• Mexican peso (‘MXN’)
• Norwegian krone (‘NOK’)
• Russian rouble (‘RUB’)
• Singapore dollar (‘SGD’)
• Turkish lira (‘TRY’)

The set of collected currencies has been evolving over time. Initially, only 5 currencies were collected (EUR, USD, _X, XU3 and _T). Since 2020 reference year, _U currency was added. The full set mentioned above has been collected only since 2022 reference year.

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. Historically, the UK has had a higher proportion of ‘unknown’ currency than recommended by Eurostat. This can be attributed to file feed issues for imports and data only being collected for declarations with a value greater than £100,000 for exports, as explained in section 18.1 and 18.3. 

The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in Northern Ireland 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 National Customs Authority of Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland

TIC data disseminated by Eurostat

See document TIC Quality indicators.

TIC data disseminated at national level

The UK publishes an annual 'Currency of Invoicing' report, this is for the UK as a whole (whereas data used to compile the TIC data sent to Eurostat relates to NI movements only). These are published annually i.e. January to December. The latest release is for 2022, published on 27 April 2023.

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.

For data dissemination on Eurostat website – Share of each invoicing currency in extra-EU imports and exports for EU Member States and Northern Ireland.

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 UK National Customs Authority.

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

General statistical legislation

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics

Extra-EU trade legislation (or Extrastat) – legislation applicable up to 1 January 2022

• Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council

• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 92/2010

• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 113/2010

All regulations relevant for the European statistics on international trade in goods can be found in the publication Legislation on European statistics on international trade in goods or consulted from the Legislation page of the International trade in goods section on Eurostat website. All legal texts of the EU are accessible on Eur-Lex.

Legislation applicable as of 1 January 2022

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 Implementation 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.

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics, stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European business statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

As a general definition, data used by national and EU authorities for producing statistics are considered confidential if statistical units can be identified, either directly or indirectly, and information about individuals or businesses is disclosed as a result.

No active confidentiality is applied as it is agreed in our suppression policy that the TIC dataset is sufficiently aggregated.

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

TIC data is the result of the aggregation of published trade in goods data, without confidentiality treatment. Data by invoicing currency is sufficiently aggregated to prevent trader identification. 

TIC data 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 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 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 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 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.

The UK publishes an annual 'Currency of Invoicing' report which is for the United Kingdom as a whole (whereas data used to compile the TIC data sent to Eurostat relates to NI movements only).

The UK publication includes breakdown by individual SITC section (SITC 0 to SITC 9) and the proportion of trade declared in the four top currencies for each flow (imports and exports), as well as an aggregated ‘others’ group. 

TIC data 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.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

TIC data 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 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.

TIC data undergoes the same Quality Assurance process as for all other HMRC National and European trade-in-goods statistics deliverables.

Quality reporting and assessment
The Extrastat regulation includes standardised quality articles. These articles are in line with the ESS Quality definition, European Statistics Code of Practice and the Regulation of European Statistics. In particular, they require the reporting countries to provide Eurostat with annual quality reports within a fixed deadline. Those reports are used for quality and compliance assessments. The following indicators are compiled for each reference year:
• Statistical information required by the legislation but not or partially provided
• Timeliness and punctuality of TIC data

Data quality checks prior to any dissemination
The prime responsibility for ensuring the data completeness and accuracy rests with the National Statistical Authorities. Further checks are carried out by Eurostat, essentially to ensure that the transmission of the requested data meets the requirements. Datasets must be complete, error-free, and all possible extreme values (outliers) confirmed.

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

TIC data 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 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.

TIC data undergoes the same Quality Assurance process as for all other HMRC National and European trade-in-goods statistics deliverables.

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.

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.

For the period 2010-2020, the Currency of Invoice (TIC) data sent to Eurostat was for UK trade with countries outside the EU (Extra). From 2021 onwards however, this is supplied for NI goods movements with countries outside of the EU i.e. data collected from customs declarations for NI goods movements. So there is a timeseries break. 

To note: a new ‘Customs Declaration System’ (CDS) has recently been implemented in the UK (2022). This is replacing (and dual running) with the old system (CHIEF), throughout 2022-24. 

2010 - 2020 (UK-Extra trade); 2021 onwards (Northern Ireland-Extra trade).

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 data are derived from information collected via customs declarations. No specific data collection is then necessary, which means that the burden is null for the respondents, i.e. for the traders and businesses. The cost of TIC data only relates to the compilation step carried out by the National Statistical Authorities, which is considered as minor given the small number of records.

The revision policy applied to TIC data transmitted to Eurostat by Northern Ireland is as per the EU legislation governing the TIC data delivery.

The revision practice follows the policy i.e. no revisions to the TIC data are transmitted to Eurostat

Not available.

TIC data are derived from the combination of trade in goods transactions collected via customs declarations including invoicing currencies (for exports this data is only collected for declarations with a value greater than £100,000).

The remaining non collected exports are accounted in the ‘None declared’ currency of invoice category. This includes trade reported through separate systems such as parcel post, and some mineral fuels.

Collection of trade in goods data: every day/month/year via customs declarations 

Collection of the invoicing currency: every day/month/year via customs declarations 

Collection of trade in goods data
The standard source of information on trade transactions are the customs declaration submitted by businesses and, in some cases, by private individuals involved in an international transaction of goods with a non-EU country. The customs declaration are in electronic format.

Collection of the invoicing currency
The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. It is mandatory information to be collected by the Customs National Authorities for imported goods. On exports this data is only collected for declarations with a value greater than £100,000.

At the national level TIC data undergoes the same Quality Assurance process as for all other HMRC National and European trade-in-goods statistics deliverables.

Northern Iraland 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:

TIC data is derived on the basis of trade values and invoice currency provided in Customs Declarations data. Non-collected invoice currency is not imputed. 

At European level:

The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of Northern Ireland is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values.

At national level:

No imputation is made.

At European level:

No imputation is made by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.