Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

G5 - Trade in Goods

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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 electrical energy and natural gas. ‘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 European business statistics geonomenclature applicable to European statistics on international trade in goods for more information.

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 statistical territories of the EU Member States and for which the trading partner is a non-EU country. As ITGS in general, TIC data cover all sectors of the economy.

For EFTA and enlargement countries, the scope of TIC data is the trade with the rest of the world.

For Northern Ireland, the scope of TIC data is only the trade with non-EU countries.

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 areas  ‘extra-EU’ for the EU Member States and Northern Ireland and ‘world’ for the EFTA and enlargement countries.

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 (voluntarily since 2021), 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’)
• National currency of the reporting country
• 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’)

Other optionally collected currencies (mandatory only if it is a national currency):

• Bulgarian lev (‘BGN’)
• Czech koruna (‘CZK’)
• Danish krone (‘DKK’)
• Croatian kuna (‘HRK’)
• Hungarian forint (‘HUF’)
• Polish zloty (‘PLN’)
• Romanian leu (‘RON’)
• Swedish krona (‘SEK’)
• Albanian lek (‘ALL’)
• Bosnia-Herzegovinian convertible mark (‘BAM’)
• Iceland krona (‘ISK’)
• Macedonian denar (‘MKD’)
• Serbian Dinar (‘RSD’)

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.

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 (voluntarily since 2021).

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 National Customs Authority.

TIC data are available for the European Union and the euro area as aggregates as well as for all the EU Member States individually. They are also available for the following non-EU countries:

• All EFTA countries except Liechtenstein for which a derogation applies: Iceland, Norway and Switzerland;
• United Kingdom (until 2018 reference year);
• Northern Ireland (since 2022 reference year); and
• Enlargement countries (candidate countries and potential candidates): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

TIC data must be compiled once every two years starting with 2010 as reference year (2014 for Croatia and 2012 for EFTA countries). Data relating to in-between years are optional, which leads to incomplete geographical coverage. 2017 is the first in-between year for which optional TIC data are available. Note that Liechtenstein is exempted from providing TIC data.

See document TIC Quality indicators for more informatin on time periods covered by the data.

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, or in world imports and exports for EFTA and enlargement countries.

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 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

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 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

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

Basic Act: 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.

Not applicable.

In principle data by invoicing currency are not detailed enough to make it possible to identify a specific trader. They are therefore free for publication. However the inclusion of additional detailed product categories and individual invoicing currencies might make it possible to identify individual traders. In such a case, and strictly only upon request of an importer or exporter of goods, reporting countries should prevent the release of confidential data by an appropriate marking.

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

No release calendar as such but the practice to publish TIC data at country level once they have passed all the quality checks. If all the validation rules are met, this means within a few days after the data transmission by the reporting country to Eurostat. Note that this practice applies both for a new reference year and for revisions.

TIC data relating to the EU and EA (euro area) aggregates are compiled and disseminate once all the Member State have transmitted their data to Eurostat.  

International trade release calendar

In line with the EU legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

TIC data are updated every year in April/May with a new reference year. However it should be noted that only TIC data relating to even years (e.g. 2020, 2022) are to be mandatorily provided to Eurostat. The geographical coverage might thus be incomplete for reference periods corresponding to odd years (e.g. 2021).

Revisions of historical data may occur at any time but remain exceptional.

News releases on-line

Statistics Explained is an official Eurostat website presenting all statistical topics in an easily understandable way. Together, the articles make up an encyclopaedia of European statistics, completed by a statistical glossary clarifying all terms used and numerous links to further information and the very latest data and metadata. One of the Statistics Explained articles relating to international trade in goods statistics is dedicated to TIC data. See the article Extra-EU trade by invoicing currency.

The TIC data can be accessed via the Data Navigation Tree, under the ‘International trade’ theme and the ‘International trade in goods’ branch. Two views are available:

• Trade shares by invoicing currency with additional currency and SITC product group breakdowns (from 2021 onwards) (EXT_TIC02)
• Trade shares by invoicing currency (from 2010 onwards) (EXT_LT_INVCUR)

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not available.

User Guide on European statistics on international trade in goods – The purpose of this Guide is to explain to a wide range of users how the statistics relating to trade in goods, both between EU Member States and with non-EU countries, are collected, compiled, processed and published at European level. The different issues are tackled in a question and answer format.

European business statistics compilers' manual for international trade in goods statistics – This Guide provides clarifications, often through concrete examples, to help the compilers to better interpret and apply the complex legislation on ITGS.

Not available.

Quality Report on European statistics on international trade in goods — This Report provides users with a tool to assess the quality of the international trade in goods statistics published by Eurostat. The data quality can be assessed against indicators covering the following components: relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence.

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.

TIC data are derived from monthly detailed trade in goods data combined with additional information on invoicing currencies. Therefore their quality primarily depends on the quality of these two data sources.

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.

No user survey on TIC data was carried out so far but direct feedback from main users like the European Central Bank indicates a good level of satisfaction as regards the data coverage and timeliness. The data availability could however be improved by an annual rather than biennial compilation. Most reporting countries have started to compile TIC data on an annual basis since 2017 as reference year.

TIC data are based on the EU legislation which is directly applicable in the EU Member States. In particular, the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics include a clear and precise description of the characteristics of the TIC dataset to be transmitted to Eurostat. All characteristics are provided by the reporting countries.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

The accuracy is tackled at national and European levels, by eliminating as much as possible the non-sampling errors. It should be noted that the accuracy of TIC data depends mainly on the accuracy of customs declarations.

Not applicable for most reporting countries as TIC data are generally entirely derived from information collected via customs declarations.

Not available.

The accuracy of TIC data is primarily impacted by issues in the collection and compilation of detailed trade in goods statistics (e.g. delayed declarations, estimated trade value) combined with issues in the reporting of the invoicing currency by the trader.

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not available.

Not applicable.

See concepts 14.1.1 and 14.1.2.

See document TIC Quality indicators.

Not applicable.

TIC data are transmitted within the legal deadline by most reporting countries.

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.

From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics compilers' manual for international trade in goods.

Not applicable.

Changes due to definitions, classifications, coverage or methods will have an impact on the continuity of the time series. The most significant change came with the recent Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics.

Not applicable.

Apart from the TIC dataset, information on trade flows can be found in the aggregated and detailed trade in goods statistics. The intra-domain checks carried out by Eurostat before any data dissemination ensure the coherence between the trade values published in the TIC dataset and trade values coming from aggregated and detailed trade in goods statistics.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The internal coherence of the TIC dataset is ensured by the intra-dataset checks carried out at national and European levels before any data dissemination. See item 18.4 ‘Data validation’ for more details.

TIC data are derived from information collected via customs declarations. No specific data collection is necessary, which means that the burden is null for the respondents, i.e. for the trade operators. 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.

As data are generally not disseminated at national level, most reporting countries have no formal revision policy. Eurostat accepts any data revisions insofar as they comply with all validation rules.

Statistics by invoicing currency are only exceptionally revised by the reporting countries. European Union and euro area aggregates are revised whenever data have been revised at country level.

Not available.

TIC data are derived from the combination of two types of information:

• Trade in goods transactions collected via customs declarations; and
• Invoicing currencies collected via either customs declarations or a dedicated survey if the information is not covered by customs declarations (possible only for exports).

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

Collection of the invoicing currency: every month via customs declarations or on an ad-hoc basis via a dedicated survey

Collection of trade in goods data

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 a non-EU country.

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 element is optional; therefore the Customs National Authority may decide not to collect the invoicing currency. In this case, the National Statistical Authority responsible for providing Eurostat with TIC data has to collect the information via a survey.

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

• Consistency with the expected IT structural requirements: validity of format and codes, integrity of the file
• Consistency within the dataset: completeness of the file, consistency with EDAMIS metadata, intra-record checks on values, inter-record consistency checks, consistency checks on derived values
• Consistency with other datasets within the same domain and the same data source - size of revisions, variation over previous reference years
• Consistency within the same domain and a different data source: 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 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.

No imputation is made by Eurostat. The reporting country is asked to provide revisions in the case Eurostat's data validation system detects inconsistent values.

Not applicable at European level.

Not applicable.

None.