explanatory notes to the merchandise trade statistics 2023-pa凯发国际登录

the customs law of the people’s republic of china (hereinafter referred to as customs law) adopted by the standing committee of the national people’s congress on january 22nd, 1987 and promulgated by the decree of the president of the people’s republic china provides the legal basis for general administration of customs of china (gacc) to undertake statistical work related to merchandise trade. gacc is mandated to compile external merchandise trade statistics by article 2 of the customs law.

the regulation on customs statistics of people’s republic of china (promulgated by state council no. 454, hereafter referred to as the regulation) for the implementation of customs law and the statistics law of the people’s republic of china defines the tasks and guiding principles of statistical work, concepts and definitions used for compiling customs statistics, lays down the methodological basis for collecting, processing and disseminating external merchandise trade statistics. article 17 specifies that customs statistics be made available to the public.

the statistics department in gacc is responsible for drafting regulations and procedures for merchandise trade statistics, directing nation-wide trade statistics operations, conducting trade data analyses, compiling and disseminating trade statistics. statistics offices are present in all 42 customs districts. the offices are responsible for trade data collection, verification, processing and transmission to gacc. currently, there are around 1500 customs officers working on customs statistics.

gacc is legally responsible for the whole process of external merchandise trade statistics from data collection to dissemination. statistical information is collected and processed in local customs offices, then transferred via intranet to customs headquarter for final review and dissemination.

article 18 of the regulation specifies that the individual reporters' data obtained in the process of compiling statistics shall be kept confidential. in practice, the above-mentioned statistical information shall not be provided to any third party without the permission of the data provider.

the statistics department in gacc is responsible for drafting regulations and procedures for merchandise trade statistics, directing nation-wide trade statistics operations, conducting trade data analyses, compiling and disseminating trade statistics.  statistics offices are present in all 42 customs districts. the offices are responsible for trade data collection, verification, processing and transmission to gacc. currently, there are around 1500 customs officers working on trade statistics.

computer editing programs are used to check the accuracy of the data. the editing programs include validation of the reported codes against lists of acceptable codes. fields that are validated include but not limited to the hs code, statistical value, quantity, trading partner and customs regime. lists of acceptable codes for specific transactions are also used for validation purposes. errors are corrected by customs statisticians after verifying with the importers or exporters.

resources at gacc are commensurate with needs of statistical programs. a comprehensive review program of the quality assurance mechanism of various statistical systems has been established. the monitoring is undertaken at the micro and macro levels of data.

since 1980, the international merchandise trade statistics: concepts and definitions(imts)of the un statistics division has been applied in compiling the china external trade statistics, which ensures the methodology of customs statistics is internationally acknowledged.

in practice, gacc’s statisticians are compelled by law not to tamper or forge statistics. they are also entitled to stop and expose any contrived interference that might affect the objectivity and authenticity of statistics.

source

customs statistics are compiled from the declarations submitted to the customs by importers and exporters as well as other documents verified by customs. the statistical information taken from these documents includes: commodity code and description, quantity, value, partner country (origin/final destination, and consignment), type of customs regimes, individual importer or exporter, domestic destination for imports, place of origin for exports, customs districts of clearance, and mode of transportation among others.

time of recording

exports are recorded on the date when the goods are cleared from customs while imports are recorded on the date when the goods are released from customs.

dissemination

customs statistics are disseminated on a monthly basis. statistics are accessible to the public via internet, publications or other media. the release calendar is announced in advance by the end of year. the release calendar for 2023 is published and available on gacc website (www.customs.gov.cn).

the regulation defines the tasks and guiding principles of statistical work, concepts and definitions used for compiling customs statistics, lays down the methodological basis for compiling and disseminating external trade statistics. article 17 specifies that customs statistics be made available to the public.

the regulation defines the coverage, statistical items, the source of the statistics, the collection, processing and dissemination, which is published and available on gacc website (www.customs.gov.cn).

to facilitate the implementation of the regulation, gacc promulgated the decree no. 153 in 2006 and modified it as the decree no. 242 in 2018 to define the methodology of external trade statistics, which is also available on gacc website.

gacc provides monthly summarized trade data to relevant officials of the state council 1-2days before the release of the data.

trade data are released by gacc together with an analytical report on monthly, quarterly or annual trade trend analysis. the report focuses on import and export by major commodities, major trading partners, modes of trade and main trends.

major changes in methodology are published in advance through gacc administrative regulation and notes within china customs statistics publications.

all staff should abide by the article 18 of the regulation on customs statistics. the customs statisticians have the obligation to safeguard the secrets of the state and commercial secrets that they acquire from the course of recording.

since 1980, the compilation of customs statistics follows the concepts and definitions recommended by the united nations for use in international trade statistics, that is international merchandise trade statistics: concepts and definitions, (imts).

trade system and statistical territory:

since 1995, the general trade system has been adopted for recording merchandise trade. prior to 1995, the special trade system was used.

the statistical territory of merchandise trade statistics coincides with the customs territory of the people's republic of china (pr china), excluding the separate customs territories of hong kong, macao and taiwan of china.

coverage

customs statistics comprise all the merchandise passing through china’s customs territory (with the exceptions mentioned below), including: goods from abroad entering customs warehouses, bonded areas or special economic zones (sez) and goods leaving the above-mentioned areas to abroad; goods for inward or outward processing or assembling and subsequent re-exportation or re-importation; goods on lease for one year or more; goods imported or exported by foreign-invested enterprises; international aid or donations, etc.

customs statistics do not cover temporary imports or exports; goods on lease for less than one year; travelers personal effects; ships and aircraft bunkers and stores obtained abroad; monetary gold and coins being legal tender; banknotes and coins in circulation; goods in transit through china. since 2012, exported media used for carrying customized software or software written for a specific client or originals of any nature, which is filed to customs under commodity classification heading 98.03, has been excluded. statistics in 2011 and before are not adjusted accordingly.

commodity items are classified for declaration purpose in accordance with the commodity classification for china customs statistics (ccccs for short) which was based on sitc rev.2 for the years of 1980-1991, and has switched to the harmonized commodity description and coding system (hs for short) since 1992. the hs-based ccccs of 2023 contains 8957 8-digit commodity subdivisions: the first six digits of which correspond to the hs, the 7th and 8th digits are national subheadings established for the purposes of tariff, trade statistics or trade policy measures. since 2015, counter-trade of border residents and other commodities which are imported and exported through simplified customs procedures have been recorded under heading 98.04. since 2019, cross-border e-commerce parcels via postal or express service have been recorded under heading 98.05. since july of 2019, low value commodities under b2b cross-border e-commerce procedures have been recorded under heading 99.00.

during 1980-1991, customs commodities classification was based upon sitc rev. 2, and during 1992-2006 upon rev. 3.  

the wto agreement on valuation is used for the customs valuation on imported goods.

imports are valued on a cif basis while exports on a fob basis.

the statistical value is expressed in rmb and usd respectively. any transaction value in terms of a currency other than rmb or usd shall be converted into rmb at the benchmark exchange rates issued by the people’s bank of china; and into usd at the exchange rates for statistics purpose issued by the state foreign currency administrative bureau.

since january issue of 2014, all the tables expressed in rmb have been added into the customs statistics monthly. due to the fluctuation of the exchange rates, the percentage changes expressed in usd and rmb may not match.

merchandise trade statistics (customs statistics) are compiled from the declaration documents as well as other documents verified by customs. relevant electronic data which are submitted to customs by importers and exporters and verified by customs.

the import and export declarations including specifications of goods, such as quantity, weight, price, country of origin/destination and any other information. the declaration is filed at the customs office on behalf of the owner of goods by a customs broker, through an edi system.

the exports are recorded when the customs formalities are completed, while the imports are recorded when released from customs.

declaration with the customs office shall be made by the consignee for import of goods within 14 days after the inbound means of transportation declares its arrival and, unless specially approved by the customs, 24 hours before loading for export goods by the consignor.

the declarations submitted by importers/exporters are matched against cargo manifests to ensure that there is no omission of declaration.

import and export declaration data can be provided directly to gacc through h2018 customs clearance management system.

different quality checks methods are undertaken (validity checks, price controls, and logical controls) before the final release of the data.

processing system: “statistics data integrated management system.” and “trade statistics data system”

processing department: the processing takes place including the statistics department of gacc and statistics divisions in the 42 customs districts.

commodity detail: data are available at the8-digit hs level.

as part of validation checks, data to-be-released are reviewed against the historical data at detailed level.  where applicable, data are also checked against other related statistical indicators.

data checks are executed both by gacc and customs districts, essentially to ensure that the transmission of the requested data have been carried out satisfactorily, that datasets are complete, error-free, and there are no extreme values (outliers).

in addition to the 3-stage quality assurance routine, a special team consisting of skilled customs statistics officers from both the headquarter and local customs offices review the quality of data every 6 months. the errors found by the team is informed and corrected at the customs district level and then the updating of the database in the headquarter occurs. the team produces a quality report for internal reference after the review, which contains the characteristics of the error detected and the suggestions to the improvement of data quality.

monthly and annual merchandise trade statistics are compiled and published on a calendar basis.

monthly provisional trade data are released by gacc through news media within 14 days after the reference month. gacc issues two series of publications of china customs statistics, monthly bulletin and yearbook, both in chinese and english. the monthly publication is available within 18 days after the reference month. detailed data are available within 20 days after the reference month. the yearbook is available within 9 months after the reference year.

in 2023, the provisional data of january and february will be released together as one period on march the 7th, while the monthly publications of january and february will be available on-line on march the 18th.

computer editing programs are used to check the accuracy of the data. the editing programs include validation of the reported codes against lists of acceptable codes. fields that are validated include the hs code, statistical value and quantity, trading partner and customs regime. lists of acceptable codes for specific transactions are also used for validation purposes. errors are corrected by customs statisticians after verifying with the importers or exporters.

merchandise trade data are compiled at 8-digit level of commodity classification of hs in terms of quantity and value and by individual trading partners, which could assist users in comparing china trade data with trading partners’ corresponding data.

since 1988, bilateral reconciliation studies have been undertaken with ec, us, hong kong, japan, korea, russia, canada, kazakhstan, etc. with a view to study the sources of discrepancies between the trade data published by china and its trading partners.

the statistics will go through 3 phases of verification: primary check at the customs houses (local offices), intense check at customs districts and final review at headquarters along with the data transferred. in the first and second phases, once an error is detected and confirmed with the importer or exporter, the error will be corrected immediately in the local database. the correction records will be pooled together and transferred to gacc by the end of month. in the last phase, the correction is taken place on a monthly basis in accordance with the priority of dissemination.

to ensure the credibility of the statistics, customs organize specific review semi-yearly.

when the review on the whole year’s data is finished and the yearbook is published, the revision will stop.

preliminary statistics are marked “provisional” when published.

merchandise trade statistics include: commodity code and description, quantity, value, partner country (origin, final destination, and consignment), type of customs regimes, type of enterprises, individual importer or exporter, domestic destination for imports, place of origin for exports, customs districts of clearance, mode of transport.

monthly preliminary trade data are released within14 days after the reference month through cctv and xinhua news agency, “china daily”, “economic daily”, “international business daily”, “economic reference”, and “international trade news”.

monthly publications :

"china customs statistics monthly" (chinese and english)

“china external trade index”(chinese/english bilingual)

a press conference is organized to disseminate and briefly explains the statistics on a quarterly basis.

other publications:

"china customs statistics yearbook" (chinese and english)

www.customs.gov.cn

as requested by users. data users can apply a formatted request to customs statistics service office for customized data needs.

since 2003, china customs publish in advance the trade data release calendar in the china customs website and other publications. the next year’s release calendar would be published in december each year, and updated yearly.

the release calendar for 2023 has been published as customs announcement no.127 of 2022 and is available at www.customs.gov.cn.

monthly provisional trade data are released within 13 days after the reference month through cctv and xinhua news agency, china daily, economic daily, international business daily, economic reference, and international trade news. statistics are also published on the customs website. since 2013, the state council press conference is organized quarterly for the data dissemination.

since 2021, monthly publication china customs statistics is released by 18th of each month. the annual publication china customs statistics yearbook is available by the end of july of the year following the reference year. both are priced publications and available to the public through annual subscription or directly from the following authorized agencies:

for monthly and annual publication of chinese version: china customs publishing house, add: no1dongsi huang nan road, tel: 8610-65194242;fax: 8610-65194245

for monthly publication of english version: economic information amp; agency, add: 16/f, 342 hennessy road, hong kong, tel: 852-25722289; fax: 852-28342985; email: eiaet@pacific.net.hk

an individual agency affiliated to gacc provides statistics service to meet the customized needs which are beyond the released statistics mentioned above.

the methodology for compiling merchandise trade statistics is based on imts. methodological notes are published in china customs statistics monthly and yearbook. data users can also browse the information on methodology at www.customs.gov.cn.

china customs statistics monthly and yearbook include the imports and exports broken down by the trading partner, commodities both in hs chapter and sitc chapter, customs regimes, characteristics of the ownership of the traders, registration locations of the traders, domestics locations of imports and exports, major commodity groups. the statistics service agency provides tailored statistics for any combinations of the above-mentioned dimensions.

the information the methodology, publications, tailor-made service and frequently-asked questions are available to the public on the customs website(www.customs.gov.cn), among which, the hotline, contacts and briefing on the methodology are also released in the publications.

contact 1

prefix/first name/last name:

qian

li

title:

consultant

division:

methodology and survey division

department:

statistics department

agency:

general administration of customs of china

address1:

no 6 jian guo men nei str.

city/state:

beijing

postal code:

100730

phone: country code/ number

86

10

65195640

fax: country code/ number

86

10

65195610

email:

liqian@mail.custosms.gov.cn