International trade statistics is a branch of statistics. It is to use statistical methods, take all countries'
foreign trade data as the main body, and study the changes and laws of international trade in various stages of development from the quantitative perspective. Since international trade statistics are summarized on the basis of
foreign trade statistics of individual countries, it is required that all countries should unify the concept of statistical indicators (including calculation scope and unit, classification standard, calculation method and data sorting method, etc.). Otherwise, statistical data of all countries cannot be summarized and compared.
International trade refers to the goods, services and other economic contacts between a country and other countries or regions. It includes not only the import and export of physical commodities, but also the import and export of services and other non-physical commodities. Therefore, international trade statistics mainly consists of two parts: international trade statistics of goods and international trade statistics of services.
Statistics of International Trade in Services (SITS) is a detailed record of the flow of all tradable Services between countries and between countries and regions. It involves not only transactions between permanent and non-permanent units, but also services provided by branches set up in foreign countries, as well as overseas personal services.
International trade statistics contain a limited range of Merchandise. Not all Merchandise made in or out of a country is international Merchandise. But what is international trader goods, what should enter international trade statistics inside, what does not belong to statistical limits, each country has different regulation. In order to unify the statistical scope of international trade, the United Nations statistical commission stipulates that the goods entering into
international trade statistics should be: their inflow or outflow will increase or decrease the national stock of goods, and not necessarily limited to goods that are traded commercially.
