Data Access & Resources
Access our processed trade statistics, understand our data structure, and download country-level aggregations. All data is derived from publicly available CEPII BACI datasets.
🚨 Important: Current Data Limitations
What we currently provide: This website displays processed aggregations and visualizations of CEPII BACI data through our web interface.
What we cannot provide: Direct downloads, API access, or bulk data exports are not currently available. We do not host or redistribute the original CEPII BACI dataset.
🌐Comprehensive Data Source Overview
CEPII BACI (Our Primary Source)
Centre d'Études Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales
📊 Data Specifications
- Time Coverage: 1995-2023 (29 years)
- Countries: 226 reporting territories
- Products: 5,300+ HS6 product categories
- Trade Flows: ~15 million annual observations
- File Size: 2-5 GB per year (compressed)
- Update Frequency: Annual (October release)
⚙️ Processing Methods
- Mirror Flow Reconciliation: Resolves import/export discrepancies
- Missing Data Estimation: Gravity model predictions
- Quality Control: Outlier detection and correction
- Unit Value Calculation: Price per kilogram estimates
- Harmonization: Consistent HS classification over time
- Documentation: Quality flags for each observation
📅 Release Schedule
- 2023 Data: Released October 2024
- 2024 Data: Expected October 2025
- 2025 Data: Expected October 2026
- Access: Free registration required
- License: Academic and commercial use allowed
- Citation Required: Gaulier & Zignago methodology
🔗 Access Information
Official Website:
www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=37
Documentation:
CEPII Working Paper N°2010-23 (Updated 2024)
UN Comtrade (Original Source)
United Nations International Trade Statistics Database
📈 Coverage & Access
- Historical: 1962-present (62 years)
- Frequency: Monthly and annual data
- Countries: 200+ reporting economies
- API Access: Free with rate limits
- Bulk Download: Premium subscription required
- Real-time: 3-6 month reporting lag
⚠️ Data Quality Issues
- Mirror Data Problems: $500B annual discrepancies
- Missing Reports: 15-20% of expected flows
- Reporting Delays: Up to 18 months for some countries
- Classification Changes: HS code evolution issues
- Valuation Differences: FOB vs CIF inconsistencies
- No Quality Control: Raw data as reported
🔧 Technical Details
- API Rate Limit: 100 requests/hour (free)
- Premium: $500/year unlimited access
- File Formats: JSON, CSV, XML
- Query Complexity: Max 5 dimensions per query
- Data Size: 50GB+ annual (uncompressed)
- Updates: Monthly (with 6-week lag)
📊 Why CEPII BACI is Superior
CEPII Advantages:
- • Reconciled mirror data eliminates $500B discrepancies
- • Missing flow estimation using gravity models
- • Quality flags identify estimated vs reported data
- • Consistent methodology across all years
- • Academic-grade data cleaning procedures
UN Comtrade Limitations:
- • Raw data with no quality control
- • Major discrepancies between import/export reports
- • Inconsistent reporting across countries
- • Complex API with steep learning curve
- • Expensive for comprehensive access
WTO Trade Statistics
World Trade Organization
📊 Unique Features
- • Services Trade: $6.8T annual (missing from BACI)
- • Regional Aggregations: Pre-calculated trade blocs
- • Trade Indicators: Import/export price indices
- • Policy Context: Links to trade agreements
⏱️ Update Schedule
- • Goods Trade: Quarterly updates
- • Services Trade: Annual (12-month lag)
- • Next Release: March 2025 (2024 Q4 data)
- • Access: Free, no registration required
IMF DOTS
Direction of Trade Statistics
💰 Subscription Model
- • Academic: $500/year (limited access)
- • Commercial: $2,000/year (full access)
- • Government: $5,000/year (real-time feeds)
- • Format: Excel, SDMX, API
📈 Data Advantages
- • High Frequency: Monthly updates (2-month lag)
- • Current Data: 2024 data available January 2025
- • Bilateral Focus: Optimized for partner analysis
- • IMF Quality: Central bank data validation
📊What Data You Can Access
✅ Available on Our Website
- •Country export/import totals and rankings
- •Trade balances (surplus/deficit) by country
- •Top trading partners for each country
- •Major export/import products by country
- •Regional and continental aggregations
- •Historical context and trend analysis
❌ Not Currently Available
- •Raw data downloads (CSV, JSON, Excel)
- •API endpoints for programmatic access
- •Custom data queries or filtering
- •Product-level (HS6) disaggregated data
- •Bulk bilateral trade flow matrices
- •Historical time series downloads
🏛️How to Access the Original Data
CEPII BACI Official Source
For complete, unprocessed trade data at the product level, you should download directly from CEPII. This is the authoritative source we use for all our analysis.
CEPII BACI Database
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales
What You'll Get from CEPII
- • Product-level trade flows (HS6 codes)
- • Bilateral country-pair data
- • Annual data from 1995-2023
- • Quantities and values
- • Quality indicators and flags
- • Complete documentation
Technical Requirements
- • Database software (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)
- • Statistical software (R, Python, Stata)
- • Significant storage space (50GB+)
- • Data processing capabilities
- • Understanding of HS product codes
- • Time for data cleaning and preparation
🔗Alternative Data Sources
UN Comtrade
Original source of global trade statistics
WTO Statistics
Includes both goods and services trade
IMF DOTS
Direction of Trade Statistics
🗂️Our Data Structure
Understanding how we organize and present trade data can help you interpret our analysis and decide if you need access to the underlying CEPII dataset.
Country-Level Aggregations
Total Exports
Sum of all HS6 products exported by country
Total Imports
Sum of all HS6 products imported by country
Trade Balance
Exports minus imports (surplus/deficit)
Partner & Product Analysis
Top Partners
Largest export destinations and import sources
Top Products
Most valuable exported and imported products
Regional Totals
Continental and regional aggregations
Calculation Example
How we calculate Germany's total exports:
- Take all HS6 products exported by Germany in 2023
- Sum the values to all destination countries
- Result: $1.63 trillion total exports
- Rank against other countries: #3 globally
Note: We do not modify CEPII's reconciled values, only aggregate them.
📅Data Update Schedule & Expected Releases
📊 Current Data Status (December 2024)
🗓️ CEPII BACI Release Timeline
⚡ Real-Time Alternatives
IMF DOTS
WTO Statistics
🔄 Our Website Update Process
Monitor
Check CEPII website weekly for new releases
Download
Retrieve new BACI dataset within 48 hours
Process
Aggregate to country totals, recalculate rankings
Deploy
Update website within 7 days of CEPII release
📧 Update Notifications
We don't currently offer email notifications for data updates. Check this page periodically or follow CEPII announcements directly. Major updates (like 2024 data release) will be prominently announced on our homepage.
🚀Future Development Roadmap
Realistic Development Timeline
We're considering additional features based on user feedback and technical feasibility. These are potential developments, not commitments - we prioritize honesty over promises.
Basic Improvements
- • Enhanced country comparison tables
- • Better mobile responsive design
- • Search functionality for countries
- • PDF export for country profiles
Data Access Features
- • Country-level CSV downloads
- • Simple REST API (rate limited)
- • Historical time series visualizations
- • Custom bilateral trade lookups
Advanced Features
- • Product-level data interface
- • Interactive data visualization tools
- • Real-time data integration
- • Machine learning trade predictions
⚠️ Technical & Legal Constraints
Server & Cost Limitations
- • Monthly bandwidth costs increase with API usage
- • Database storage costs scale with historical data
- • Processing power needed for real-time aggregations
- • CDN costs for global data delivery
- • Backup and redundancy infrastructure
Legal & Licensing Issues
- • CEPII terms allow redistribution of aggregated data
- • Cannot redistribute raw product-level BACI data
- • Must maintain attribution to CEPII and UN Comtrade
- • Commercial API usage may require different licensing
- • EU GDPR compliance for user registration systems
Reality Check: We're a small project with limited resources. Any new features depend on volunteer time, hosting costs, and continued access to CEPII data. We prefer under-promising and over-delivering rather than making commitments we might not keep.
📧Need Something Specific?
We Can Help With
- • Explaining our data processing methods
- • Clarifying specific calculations
- • Discussing data limitations for your use case
- • Providing guidance on accessing CEPII BACI
- • Academic collaboration discussions
What to Expect
- ✓ Honest answers about our capabilities
- ✓ Guidance to appropriate data sources
- ✓ Technical explanations when helpful
- ✗ Custom data processing services
- ✗ Proprietary data not in public domain