International Trade in Goods Statistics (ITGS) is a part of Department Economic Statistics and National Accounts within the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS).

The International Trade in Goods Statistics (ITGS) started to publish the data for Export and Import of Kosovo since 2001.

International Trade in Goods Statistics sections (ITGS) is a part of the official Kosovo Agency of Statistics which provides data on movement of goods between countries. Foreign Trade Statistics are a very important statistical indicator on the performance of the national economies. They monitor the flow of goods across the national borders and are used for most public and private sector decision makers e.g. for bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, for planning and managing the economic, trade and monetary policies, for market research and commercial strategies etc. External Trade Statistics are a major input to macro-economic statistics such as the BOP and NA.

External trade statistics are compiled in accordance with the ‘special’ system (facilitating definition) of recording international trade. By this system, imports and exports are recorded at the time when goods move across the territory (or area) under the free flow that is the part when goods may be sold without any customs restriction. The facilitating definition means that beside regular import and export transactions, also inward and outward processing is included.

Special imports include imports of foreign goods into the free flow area for consumption, for processing and after outward processing.

Special exports include exports of goods originating in the free circulation area, goods after inward processing and goods for outward processing.

Goods in transit are excluded.

Combined Nomenclature (CN)

Harmonized System (HS)

Standard International Trade Classification (SITC)

Geonomenclature (GEONOM)

Trade statistics serve different users of there different request of KAS publication, including governments, businesses, academic and the general public.

The interest in ITGS is increasing, therefore production of timely and high quality data is of primary importance for the producers of statistics. 

STATISTICAL CONCEPT:

The external trade statistics of KOSOVO are compiled by KAS in accordance with the Special trade system, relaxed definition. The Special Trade System, in its relaxed definition, includes the import of foreign goods other than compensating products after outward processing, compensating products after outward processing and goods in the same state as previously exported (which were not previously subject to temporary export), released into the free circulation area, industrial free zone, or premises for inward processing. It includes the export of domestic goods other than compensating products after inward processing, goods in the same state as previously imported (which were not previously subject to temporary import), from the free circulation area or from an industrial free zone, as well as the export of compensating products after inward processing and goods in the same state as previously imported, from premises for inward processing.

DEFINITION OF INDICATORS:

Units of quantity

The quantity of exported and imported goods is shown in net mass if it can be determined considering the nature of the product and in the supplementary unit of measurement when it is prescribed in the customs tariff nomenclature. Net weight is the usual unit of quantity shown. The weight of containers, cases, jars and packing materials is therefore excluded.
Other units of quantity are used for some commodities, notably live animals, motor vehicles, office machines, domestic appliances, watches and clocks, and clothing (where number is used as the unit of quantity), footwear (where the number of pairs is used), floor coverings (where square meters are used), and beverages (where volume is used).

Partner country

In this publication, imports are recorded by country of origin (as opposed to country of consignment or dispatch). Goods obtained or produced in one country originating at that country. A product, in the production of which two or more countries were involved, is considered as originating by the country in which the last substantial manufacturing process occurred. Packing, repacking, sorting and blending are not regarded as manufacturing processes.
Exports are classified by country of final destination. The last country to which the goods are specifically directed on their outward movement from the State is regarded as their final destination. This is not necessarily the country in which the goods will be unshipped or that in which they will be finally consumed.

GOODS INCLUDED:

- Non-monetary gold,
- Unissued banknotes and securities, and coins not in circulation,
- Goods traded on government account,
- Goods for military use,
- Goods used as carriers of information and software,
- Goods for processing,
- Goods which cross borders as a result of transactions between parent corporations and their direct investment enterprises (affiliates/branches),
- Returned Goods,
- Electricity,
- Goods under financial lease,
- Bunkers, stores, ballast and dunnage,
- Empty bottles which represent a traded commodity,
- Waste and scrap,
- Some goods dispatched through postal or courier services are recorded by Customs Authorities. However postal packages 'of minor value' are not recorded by Customs nor estimated by KAS.

GOODS EXCLUDED:

- Goods entering the territory for EU and other international institutions are not included because no customs formalities are required,
- Food and other humanitarian aid are not included in trade statistics,
- Goods acquired by all categories of travelers, including non-resident workers to a significant scale as defined by law (except Goods treated as part of trade in services),
- Goods on consignment,
- Gas and water are not imported or exported in Kosovo,
- Goods dispatched through postal or courier services (with the exception of some companies),
- Migrants' effects are not recorded in Kosovo trade statistics,
- There is no buffer stock organization in Kosovo,
- Ships (commodity codes belonging to HS chapter 89) and Aircrafts (identified as HS codes 880220/30/40) are not imported or exported (although these commodity codes can be found in 2008 data),
- There is no offshore installations located in the economic territory of Kosovo,
- Monetary gold (identified by HS code 710820),
- Issued banknotes (identified by CN code 49070030) and securities and coins in circulation (identified by CN code 71189000),
- Goods temporarily admitted or dispatched (no change of ownership, for a limited time),
- Kosovo has no territorial enclave,
- Goods in transit,
- Non-financial assets, ownership of which has been transferred from residents to nonresidents, without crossing borders,
- Goods which are acquired and relinquished within the compiling country, by nonresidents, within the same recording period, and which do not cross the frontiers of this country, 
- Goods treated as part of trade in services,
- Goods under operational lease,
- Empty bottles which are returned to be refilled,
- Goods for repair.

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GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE:

Geographical coverage is based on customs boundaries. Statistical territory is the customs territory.

Time series are available from 2001.

The base period for index is 2005.

The calendar month is the basic period for compiling the data.

The quantity of exported and imported goods is shown in net mass if it can be determined considering the nature of the product and in the supplementary unit of measurement when it is prescribed in the customs tariff nomenclature.

Net weight is the usual unit of quantity shown. The weight of containers, cases, jars and packing materials is therefore excluded.

Other units of quantity are used for some commodities, notably live animals, motor vehicles, office machines, domestic appliances, watches and clocks, and clothing (where number is used as the unit of quantity), footwear (where the number of pairs is used), floor coverings (where square meters are used), and beverages (where volume is used).

The calendar month is the basic period for compiling the data.

On the base of customs data, the time of recording the imports/exports transactions is the date of submission of the customs declaration or according to some other date valid for the implementation of the customs regulations.

Statistical units, natural and legal persons, regardless of whether they have a legal personality or not, are obliged to provide complete, updated and truthful information to the KAS and other producers of official statistics in appropriate form, timely and free of charge determined by the producer of official statistics, defined in article 2, Law No. 04/L-036 ON OFFICIAL STATISTICS of REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO.

KAS has established an agreement with Customs Authorities on data exchange. According to this agreement between the two organisations there are responsible bodies set for the cooperation.

Data confidentiality is provided by section article 34, Law No. 04/L-036 on OFFICIAL STATISTICS of REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO.

KAS statistics do not contain data affected by confidentiality provisions. Passive confidentiality is used in practice, however until now there were no trader requests for application of confidentiality for certain CN codes.

In the passive confidentiality system, data are 'suppressed' only at the request of traders who feel their interests would be harmed by the publication of their data.

In the 'active confidentiality' system, the National Statistics Authority uses its own criteria to decide to suppress data or not, without informing the trader.

Confidentiality can have an impact on the quality of statistical figures, especially when the value of confidential trade is important when compared to total trade.

Also KAS do not contain data affected by confidentiality.

Access to confidential data shall be permitted only to persons who are in charge of producing the official statistics up to that level that these data are necessary for producing statistics. Article 37, Law No. 04/L-036ON.

The KAS publishes yearly an advance release calendar for all its publication for the current year.

http://esk.rks-gov.net/ENG/administration/calls-for-tenders/release-calendar 

All users have access to release calendar at the same time.

The data are published:

- In monthly basis – that are provisional and published 40 days after the referring month,

- In quarterly basis - that is provisional and published 40 days after the end of the quarter,

- In annual basis – that are published twice: first as a provisional data within the preliminary deadline of 40 days, and secondly as final data published in May.   

News releases on line.

The publications which the user can access:

- External Trade Statistics – Monthly publications,

- External Trade (year) – Yearly publications.

http://esk.rks-gov.net/eng/

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There are no Eurostat official comments on the occasion of the release of the data.

The documents which are used in everyday work by the staff of ITGS are the EUROSTAT methodology as technical consultancy: 

- Statistics on the trading of goods – User guide,

- Documents from the meetings,

- European legislation Applicable to the Statistics relating to the trading of goods,

- Methodology of Handbook.

No data consistency checks are made.

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No quality assessment is available.

External trade statistics are available to produce information for the users. As regards information they are by the information service for each kind of statistics.

All requests are sent to the relevant statistical departments, which in the case of external trade statistics are lot of request per year.

Mostly request of information for users are: data by commodity/, by partner country, values, quantity etc and frequency of data are monthly, quarterly, yearly and periodically.

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KAS transmits to the Commission (Eurostat) the statistics on trade in goods within 40 days after the end of each monthly reference period according to the EU Regulations for data transmission to Eurostat. The current deadlines for data transmission to Eurostat are sufficient to ensure good data quality for the first release of information.

KAS includes in the results transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) all the statistical information. No confidentiality is applied in Kosovo data.

Statistics are transmitted in electronic by EDAMIS to Eurostat, in accordance with an interchange standard.

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 - Monthly figures are revised when necessary.

 - Final annual data are available at the end of May.

The statistics of trade is compiled mainly from the documents supplied by importers and exporters (or their agents) to the Customs authorities.

The document is the Single Administrative Document (SAD) used for Customs clearance purposes. The information on the document is captured by the Customs Information system.

The additional source of data is the administrative data for import and export of electricity by Company of Electricity.

Monthly.

KAS data receive directly from the Customs authorities and from company of Electricity each month by mail.

For imports the “cif” value is used (cost, insurance and freight to the point of entry in Kosovo).

For exports the “fob” (free on board) value is used.

This is the cost of goods purchased abroad, including packing, transport within the state, loading charges, insurance and other charges accruing up to the point where the goods are put on board the exporting vessel or aircraft or are conveyed to the land frontier.

The invoice value is recalculated to the value at the Kosovo’s border by adding or subtracting the whole or in parts the costs of transport, loading, unloading and insurance, depending on the terms of delivery by the contract.

The value excludes: any sum receivable by the exporter by way of export refund, drawback, subsidy or other bounty any foreign customs duties or freight charges beyond the port or point of exportation. 

Valuation is in euro. For transactions in which the value is expressed in a foreign currency, conversion to euro is done using the daily current exchange rate.

External trade statistics are compiled in accordance with the ‘special’ system (relaxed definition) of recording international trade which means that goods which are into customs warehouses are not recorded in external trade statistics.

By this system, imports and exports are recorded at the time when goods move in to free circulation area.

The relaxed definition means that beside regular import and export transactions, also inward and outward processing is included.

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