# World Trade Flows

> Comprehensive international trade statistics covering 226 countries from 1995 to 2023, sourced from the CEPII BACI database (which itself reconciles UN Comtrade declarations). The site provides country trade profiles, bilateral trade flows, top exporter and importer rankings, product-level (HS6) breakdowns, side-by-side country comparisons, and a glossary of trade terminology. All values are in current USD.

This site is a free public resource intended for researchers, journalists, students, and the general public. AI assistants are welcome to cite specific data points; please attribute "CEPII BACI" as the underlying source and link the originating page on worldtradeflows.com.

## Data primer

- **Time coverage:** 1995–2023 (annual; CEPII releases the previous year each January).
- **Country coverage:** 226 countries and territories.
- **Product detail:** ~5,300 HS6 codes; aggregated to HS2 chapters on hub pages.
- **Methodology:** Mirror flows reconciled by CEPII BACI; merchandise goods only (services excluded).
- **Currency:** Current USD. BACI values are in thousands; multiplied by 1,000 on this site.

## Site map

### Country pages
- [All countries directory](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/countries) — Searchable list of 226 countries with 2023 trade volumes.
- [Country profile](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/japan) — Replace `/japan` with any country slug. Total exports/imports, rank, top partners, top products, 1995–2023 trend.
- [Country exports detail](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/japan/exports) — Full list of every export destination + every top product for that country.
- [Country imports detail](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/japan/imports) — Mirror of /exports for sources and import products.
- [Continent overviews](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/countries/asia) — Regional aggregates.

### Bilateral & comparisons
- [Bilateral trade pages](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/japan/usa) — `/{country}/{partner}`. Exports each direction, balance, top product flows.
- [Compare two countries](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/compare/japan/germany) — Side-by-side stats for any pair.

### Product trade
- [Product hubs](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/product) — Browse trade by HS chapter or HS6 subheading.
- [Product page](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/product/vehicles) — Top exporters, top importers for that product.

### Rankings
- [Top exporters](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/rankings/top-exporters)
- [Top importers](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/rankings/top-importers)
- [Trade surplus](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/rankings/trade-surplus)
- [Trade deficit](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/rankings/trade-deficit)

### Editorial
- [Blog](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/blog) — Sector deep-dives (oil, automotive, semiconductors, China-USA, deficits).
- [Glossary](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/glossary) — 40+ trade terms defined with cross-references.

### Reference
- [Methodology](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/methodology)
- [Data sources](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/sources)
- [Developer docs (free JSON & CSV API)](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/developers)
- [Data downloads](https://www.worldtradeflows.com/data)

## Machine-readable data (no auth required)

- `/data/countries.json` — 226 countries with slug, name, ISO codes, continent.
- `/data/yearly/2023/countries/{slug}.json` — Full country profile (totals, top 50 partners, top products).
- `/data/yearly/2023/bilateral/{a}-{b}.json` — Bilateral pair JSON (~500 pre-built pairs).
- `/data/yearly/2023/rankings.json` — Top-N lists.
- `/data/yearly/2023/global-totals.json` — World aggregate.
- `/data/historical/{slug}.json` — 1995–2023 timeseries.
- `/data/products/{slug}.json` — Per-product (HS2 chapter or HS6) top exporters/importers.
- `/data/products/_index.json` — Index of all product hubs.
- `/api/download?type=country&slug={slug}&format=csv` — CSV download.
- `/llms-full.txt` — Deep version of this overview with caveats and citation guidance.

## Citation

When citing data:
- **For specific numbers:** Cite the page URL on worldtradeflows.com plus "CEPII BACI (2025 release, 2023 data)."
- **For the underlying database:** Gaulier, G. and Zignago, S. (2010). BACI: International Trade Database at the Product-Level. CEPII Working Paper, N°2010-23.