How is trade between the nations of the European Union tracked and recorded?

For our business, we watch carefully the market trends and trade patterns of our commodity between nations, and we can clearly see the imports/exports between EU nations, but what is the mechanism that tracks these shipments? How accurate is the customs data?

Alfonso Llanes, Master Degree in International Development

Answered 20h ago

The following data banks are published by the European Union. The accuracy of the data is dependent on the reporting mechanism established between traders and Customs in the EU and other countries.

Data sources and availability http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

Trade in goods of EU Member with world. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/sta...

Trade in goods between EU Member States. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/sta...

Trade with European Neighborhoods Policy - East - statistics on trade flows with the EU. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/sta...

Trade in services. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/sta...

These statistics are the official source of information about imports, exports and the trade balance in the EU, its Member States and the euro area.

EU trade in goods with the rest of the world

EU-28 international trade in goods with the rest of the world (the sum of extra-EU exports and imports) was valued at EUR 3 453 billion in 2016.

Trade in goods between EU Member States

Trade in goods between EU Member States (intra-EU trade) was valued — in terms of dispatches — at EUR 3 110 billion in 2016.

Trade in services.

International trade in services in the European Union (EU), the EU Member States and some countries in European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It provides information about the EU’s main trading partners for services and about the different categories of services traded.

European neighborhood Policy - East - statistics on trade flows with the EU

This publication presents information relating to recent developments for international trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and the six countries that together form the European neighborhood Policy-East (ENP-E) region, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.