UK trade in goods statistics: Reasons for trade in goods asymmetries
This report is aimed at users of UK Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics and related Asymmetries in international Trade in Goods Statistics, who want a better understanding of the international comparability of the UK’s trade in goods data.
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Asymmetries are the differences between the published trade statistics of the reporting country and its partner countries.
Due to each country collecting data on their own international trade-in-goods for both imports and exports, in theory the ‘mirror flow’ collected by the partner countries should match.
In reality, it is often the case that the figures do not match and this is referred to as an ‘asymmetry’.
This report’s focus is on the description of some of the main issues related to asymmetries in international trade data affecting comparability with UK trade data.