WITS and Comtrade not matching up

[phillip...@undp.org]

I've been comparing work that I've fact checked on the UN Comtrade site (comtrade.un.org) with data he got from here. For the most part, they end up equal, but there are a few exceptions. For instance, look at total exports using HS 96 for SA:

WITS: 245,905,329.781

Comtrade: 251,143,033,395

Similarly, Armenia:

WITS: 867,975.141 

Comtrade: 1,011,424,747  

This persists down to the nitty-gritty levels, by the way, and I've checked both databases and they say the most recent data came on the same date. As I understand it, the source of WITS is the UN Comtrade database, so I'm confused as to why they would be off by so much--especially when many countries are the same. Does anyone have an idea of why this might have happened?

Thanks,

Phil

[WITS Admin]

Dear Phil,

 

We need to investigate on this query. Can you please share your Query token at wi...@worldbank.org.

 

 

Regards

WITS Team

[WITS Admin]

Dear Phill,

    In UNSD COMTRADE site, the export trade flow includes Re-Export . In WITS, we have three trade flows: Exports, Re-Exports and Gross Exports (Exports +  Re-Exports) As shown in the screen shot, the UNSD Exports is equivalent to WITS Gross Exports. WITS Export is difference of UNSD COMTRADE Exports and UNSD COMTRADE ReExports.

   Regards
   WITS Team


On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 5:22:26 PM UTC-4, (unknown) wrote: