ANLY482 AY2016-17 T2 Group13 - Data
UN Comtrade is a repository of official international trade statistics and relevant analytical tables. It provides global import and export data for goods and services, with 2-digit, 4-digit and 6-digit HS codes for commodities.
As DIT specifically looks at imports from Country B into Singapore, import trade flows are extracted using a query of Reporter: Singapore and Partner: Country B. Furthermore, to analyse competitors within the region as well as globally, import trade flows using a query of Reporter: Singapore and Partner: World are also extracted.
Through initial data exploration, our team found that there is a discrepancy in the valuation of Singapore imports from the world and world exports to Singapore. Ceteris paribus, these trade statistics should be the same. However, the principal reasons for inconsistent statistics on destination and origin for a given shipment are differences in 1) classification concepts and detail, 2) time of recording, 3) valuation, and 4) coverage, as well as 5) processing errors. Hence, our team decided to focus on the valuation of Singapore imports from the world as this data set would be a standardised valuation. Furthermore, since the DIT is looking to bring in Country B businesses into Singapore, having Singapore's valuation of its imports would provide a benchmark to compare against other competing countries.
The interpretation of Goods_2016_4D.csv is as follows:
