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For information on U.S. agricultural trade data, see
Foreign Agricultural Trade of
the United States (FATUS) and FATUS:
Questions and Answers.
Q: What agricultural trade
information does ERS have for countries of the world?
A: USDA calculates the quantity, but not the value,
of global exports for most major commodities by country,
including wheat, rice, corn, other coarse grains, cotton,
tobacco, beef, pork, and poultry. See USDA, Foreign Agricultural
Service's Production,
Supply, and Distribution database.
ERS provides trade analyses and data for selected countries,
showing trade to and from countries other than the United
States. These data comes from individual countries' published
Trade Statistics Books or CD-Roms or data reported to
the United Nations. Additionally, a few countries, for
example Canada and the European Union, have trade data
online. Generally, the embassy of the each country will
know how to obtain published information.
Trade data as reported by the individual country do
not necessarily correspond to U.S. trade data or published
USDA estimates of total country by commodity trade because
of:
- Time lag in delivery—the time when one country
registers the export until the importing country officially
receives the merchandise;
- Differences in reporting years for which countries
aggregate data;
- Change of destination of a particular delivery during
shipment; and
- Differences in the more detailed trade codes from
one country to another. International
HS trade codes only match between countries down
to the 6-digit level. Each country has the option of
making its own trade codes more detailed by adding additional
digits.
Q: Where can I find a world
total agricultural trade figure, a world total food figure,
and bilateral country by commodity trade for all countries?
A: The United Nations's Food and
Agricultural Organization maintains
an online database (FAOSTAT)
by commodity and country, which includes consistent production,
consumption, and trade data, although some of its online
data are by subscription only. FAO data are also available
in printed format in libraries. FAO's trade data differ
from those of the United States as follows:
- For the world, FAO calculates a total agriculture
trade figure and total food; USDA does not.
- FAO's data come from many countries, some of which
may use only the 6-digit
international HS code and not a more detailed breakdown
like the 10-digit
U.S. HTS code.
- FAO aggregates data on the basis of calendar years.
USDA's annual U.S. trade data is aggregated in one of
several ways—calendar years, the commodity's or
country's marketing year, or U.S. fiscal years (October/September).
- FAO's definition of agriculture includes several
major product groups excluded from USDA's definition
of agriculture: fish, forestry, hard liquors, and manufactured
tobacco products.
The United Nations (UN) Statistical Division provides
bilateral trade flows for all merchandise, classified by
SITC and HS 6-digit trade code. However, the United Nations does not report totals for food or agriculture. For information about UN bilateral
trade data, see UN Comtrade (UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database).
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