CANSIM Table 228-0034 (Domestic Exports)

Question

A researcher is looking for earlier years, specifically for 1980-1989, equivalent to that found in CANSIM Table 228-0034 (now terminated and replaced by another table): Domestic exports, customs-based, by province of origin, monthly. She only needs data for Canada and Quebec and on an annual basis.

I have asked her to look at the various Merchandise Exports tables (90 of them in this theme!) to see if any of these might provide what she needs should her original request not be able to be fulfilled, but would appreciate confirmation.

Answer

The subject matter confirmed that:

"The CIMT database contains data from 1988 and on. Any data that was collected prior to 1988 is archived and, if it is available for dissemination, would be more costly to produce for a client."

Canadian International Merchandise Trade

Question

I have a researcher who is looking for the December 2013 Domestic Exports by Country and Imports by Country from Canadian International Merchandise Trade (65-001-X).

From the website: <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?ObjId=65-001-X&ObjType=2&lang=en&limit=0> – I can get the December 2013 tables, but the Imports and Exports by Country are not listed. From searching the website, I can see that the last time these tables are listed is August 2012 <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/65-001-x/2012008/tablesectlist-listetableauxsect-eng.htm> - table 4 and table 8 are the ones the researcher wants for 2013.

Are the tables for Imports and Exports by Country available for December 2013 or will he have to do a custom tabulation?”

Answer

The information for imports and domestic exports by country for December 2013 is not accessible through our publications. It would indeed require custom tables that would include fees. However, there are other solutions:
- The first would be to manually gather the information from the CIMT database for every country for the designated period.
- The second would be follow the second link on this webpage <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/trade-commerce/data-donnee-eng.htm?MM> and search through Industry Canada’s Database.This would be the most efficient in my opinion.

International Travel Survey (ITS) 2012

Questions

1) Looking at the CMA/CA coding, the documentation refers us to the 2001 Standard Geographical Classification. However, there are 5 codes used in the 1st quarter “co” file which aren’t in the 2001 classification (http://stds.statcan.gc.ca/sgc-cgt/2001/ss-rs1-eng.asp?criteria=35, etc.): 531/533/329/820/920. These codes do appear in the 2006 SGC. Has the documentation lagged behind the classification used, or do the codes on the ITS refer to some other areas?

2) I’ve begun working on the CO (Canadians travelling overseas) file (1st quarter), and have some questions, which I think will help with the other files in the set. First, I have a basic question about the structure of the quarterly files: I presume that when applied the weights create quarterly estimates, which can then be added together for annual estimates (and that therefore the four quarters could be combined into a single file for analysis)?

3) Accommodation variables - (ACCVS1, ACCVS2, ... ACCVS15)

o Each of these variables appear to record up to 6 different accommodation types, with spaces accepted in the field (“123456”, “1 3 56”) Correct

o The documentation states "The accommodation used in each location visited: Hotel, Motel, Home of friends or relatives, Camping, Cottage or cabin and Other." How is this applied?
- column 1 is either "1" or blank - is this hotel?
- column 2 is either "2" or blank - is this motel?
- column 3 is either "3" or blank - is this home of friends or relatives?
- column 4 is either "4" or blank - is this camping?
- column 5 is either "5" or blank - is this cottage or cabin?
- column 6 is either "6" or blank - is this other? 

o if a column is blank, does that mean that the accommodation type was not used, or that the accommodation type was not reported, or both? 

Carrier codes - (CARRC1, CARRC2, ... CARRC12)

o Is the coding on this to append three zeros to the national code (e.g., United Kingdom is coded 90077000)?

o Assuming that that is the normal coding, how are United States carriers specified beyond the 97433000 (e.g., 97433085, in the 1st quarter file for 2012)

- are the first 7 characters the US Destination code (e.g., in the case above, California)?

- what is the last column?

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no carrier, or that the carrier was not reported, or both?

Place of travel codes - (PLVSC1, PLVSC2, ..., PLVSC15)

o Is the coding on this to append two zeros to the national code (e.g., United Kingdom is coded 9007700)?

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no place of travel, or that the place of travel was not reported, or both? 

Various expense variables/person nights, etc. (fare1 to fare12, spvs1 through spsv15,

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no expense/nights, or that the field was not applicable (e.g., travel 8 didn’t occur, so expense8/nights8 is 0), or not reported, or any or all of the above?

RSCMA

o Does a 0 in this field indicate that the person did not live in a CMA/CA? 

Answers

1) Our mistake on that one. Yes, 2012 data is based on 2006 SGC. Good catch.

2) Yes, applying the weights as described in the Microdata User Guide will establish quarterly estimates, which can then be added together to create annual estimates, or yes combine all 4 files.

3) (Answers in italic red for this section)

Accommodation variables - (ACCVS1, ACCVS2, ... ACCVS15)

o Each of these variables appear to record up to 6 different accommodation types, with spaces accepted in the field (“123456”, “1 3 56”) Correct

o The documentation states "The accommodation used in each location visited: Hotel, Motel, Home of friends or relatives, Camping, Cottage or cabin and Other." How is this applied?
- column 1 is either "1" or blank - is this hotel? Yes
- column 2 is either "2" or blank - is this motel? Yes
- column 3 is either "3" or blank - is this home of friends or relatives? Yes
- column 4 is either "4" or blank - is this camping? Yes
- column 5 is either "5" or blank - is this cottage or cabin? Yes
- column 6 is either "6" or blank - is this other? Yes. Note: visits 1 to 15 can be multiple days per visit and thus any visit can have more than one type of accommodation during those days.
o if a column is blank, does that mean that the accommodation type was not used, or that the accommodation type was not reported, or both? Well, what we know is that a blank indicates that the accommodation type was not reported, which can be interpreted as not being used or as a response error (they used that type of accommodation but did not tell us!)

Carrier codes - (CARRC1, CARRC2, ... CARRC12)

o Is the coding on this to append three zeros to the national code (e.g., United Kingdom is coded 90077000)? Yes the carrier code should represent just a country code of the commercial carrier.

o Assuming that that is the normal coding, how are United States carriers specified beyond the 97433000 (e.g., 97433085, in the 1st quarter file for 2012) Seems to me like you have moved on to the variables PLVSC1 (places visited ) (7 digits posn 582-588) where for travel to US it represents the country//state codes and the 5 would be the first digit of 2 digits of the US Region Code (posn 589-590)
- are the first 7 characters the US Destination code (e.g., in the case above, California)? Yes, the appending of the US Country Code and State Code

- what is the last column? As above

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no carrier, or that the carrier was not reported, or both? Yes both. As above, there may not have been a commercial carrier (eg.Transport may have been by car) or the respondent indicated a plane but not a carrier name for us to code to a country.

Place of travel codes - (PLVSC1, PLVSC2, ..., PLVSC15)

o Is the coding on this to append two zeros to the national code (e.g., United Kingdom is coded 9007700)? For non-US, yes. For travel to US you will often see a state code if data was provided.

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no place of travel, or that the place of travel was not reported, or both? As above
Various expense variables/person nights, etc. (fare1 to fare12, spvs1 through spsv15,

o Does a zero in this field indicate that there was no expense/nights, or that the field was not applicable (e.g., travel 8 didn’t occur, so expense8/nights8 is 0), or not reported, or any or all of the above? Yes anything is possible at that point, there may not have been expenses, depending on type of transport, type of accommodation, etc.

RSCMA

o Does a 0 in this field indicate that the person did not live in a CMA/CA? Yes

Export Data

Question

I have a researcher looking for export data that seems to be available from the Exporter Register. He is looking for export value by destination and by firm size (either in terms of number of employees or, even better, in terms of revenue). An example of what the data would look like is table 1.2 in this publication:<https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/vwapj/KSBS-PSRPE_June-Juin2011_eng.pdf/$FILE/KSBS-PSRPE_June-Juin2011_eng.pdf>

Is it is possible to get this data for more countries and as a time series. Is there any chance he can have access to the Exporter Register directly?

Answer

Unfortunately, we are not disseminating any data from the Importer/Exporter registries at this time as they are currently under review. Which means that the database’s methodologies are being re-examined. The database is hence temporarily not available for dissemination to the general public. At this point we do not have a time estimate as of when the databases will be available for access again.

It is important to note that this database’s micro-level records can only be accessible for research purposes via the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research. The researcher will have to have a formalized proposal of research topic approved by Statcan before they can gain access.

There is no way for students to access these directories free of charge, so if and when they do become available again, it would be on a cost recovery basis.

Updated Products - International Merchandise Trade Data by CommodityClassification

Hello,

International Merchandise Trade Data by Commodity Classification

2011
2010 - Revised
2009 - Revised

International Merchandise Trade Data by Commodity Classification data are now available on the DLI FTP and website. This was a scheduled revision.

WEB:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/can-trade-commerce-eng.htm

Updated Products - International Trade Data by Commodity Classification

Hello,

International Merchandise Trade Data by Commodity Classification

International Merchandise Trade Data by Commodity Classification data for 2010 are now available on the DLI FTP and website. Revised data for 2008 and 2009 have also been added. This was a scheduled revision.

The files export2008dat-revised.zip, import2008dat-revised.zip, meta2008dat-revised.zip have been replaced by B465N005_200812-ver2.zip

The files export2009dat-revised.zip, import2009dat-revised.zip, meta2009dat-revised.zip have been replaced by B465N005_200912-ver2.zip

2010 data have been added under B465N005_201012.zip

WEB:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/trade-commerce/wtace-acmec/trade-commerce2008-eng.htm

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/trade-commerce/wtace-acmec/trade-commerce2009-eng.htm

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/trade-commerce/wtace-acmec/trade-commerce2010-eng.htm

FTP:

/DissFTP/dli/Trade-Commerce Inter/international-merchandise-data-by-commodity-classification/2008-revised/data/b465n005_200812-ver2.zip

/DissFTP/dli/Trade-Commerce Inter/international-merchandise-data-by-commodity-classification/2009-revised/data/b465n005_200912-ver2.zip

/DissFTP/dli/Trade-Commerce Inter/international-merchandise-data-by-commodity-classification/2010/data/b465n005_201012.zip

Thank you.

Imports of Toxic Waste

Question

A researcher here is looking for data on the import of Toxic Waste into Canada – I suspect that either dollar value or volume would be good, but probably volume would be preferred (as without a price index, dollar value doesn’t give too much information).
Any ideas? The World Trade Database doesn’t seem to break waste out in this manner …


Answer

I found this on the OECD site: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/59/41878217.xls. See Table 3.

International Merchandise Trade Data by Commodity Classification

Question

In the process of providing datasets from this source to a graduate student, we discovered what appears to be an anomaly  with the import file for 2004. This file is much smaller (at 13MG) than its equivalents for all other years (over 50 MG in general). The data is missing for all merchandises with an HS10 code above 4707300090 (part of 4707300090 is also missing). The files on FTP server and on the DLI Web server seem to be identical in that respect.

Is there any reason for that or is just a deficient file? More importantly, can the complete import data be obtained for 2004?

Answer


The author division has agreed to rerun the 2004 import file and provide the DLI with a corrected copy. As soon as the corrected version is available on our site I will send out an announcement.

Trade data for sub-provincial geographies

Question

A faculty member here is interested in obtaining international trade flows for South-Western Ontario - does Statistics Canada have these data, and
could a custom tabulation be prepared from them? If not at Statistics Canada, would the CRA collect these (thinking that they might at least have
value of imports by destination and/or exports by origin)? I didn't find sub-provincial geography for trade at Industry Canada either.

I was hoping that the Economic Region would be a sub-provincial level at which data on trade MIGHT be collected.

Answer

Here is the answer we obtained from our contacts in the International Trade Division:

"Unfortunately, trade data by region (i.e., southwestern Ontario) are not available. The lowest level of geography we can provide is Province of
Origin (exports) or Province of Destination (imports). However, custom tabulations could be extracted by Port of Entry/Port of Clearance for the
province of Ontario."

A custom tabulation could be requested if this would be of interest.

Annual data for Automobile/Auto Parts Exports and Imports

Question

A student here is hoping to get data back to 1961 for Canada - United States trade in automobiles and auto parts (North American Industrial
Classification System codes 3361 through 3363). He would like annual data for these.

We can go back to 1980 with the World Trade Database - it uses the Standard International Trade Classification codes: the student is going to try to
identify the codes comparable to the NAICS.

Any ideas on earlier data? If someone had happened to digitize the back issues of Canadian international merchandise trade, (and they all have what the earliest electronic copy does) I think the student's life would be made much easier.

Answer

You may want to have a look at the trade data available through the UNs Comtrade database (http://comtrade.un.org/db/default.aspx). Comtrade has commodity based trade data for a number of reporting countries, including Canada, and some of their data goes back to 1962. The trade data won't be industry based however, it will be commodity based. Some helpful Comtrade user guides are available on the right side of Comtrade's home page (http://comtrade.un.org/db/default.aspx) and on the Basic Query Screen (http://comtrade.un.org/db/dqBasicQuery.aspx).

After checking with the International Trade Division, they stated that: "On a cost-recovery basis, we could produce automobile data by SEG (Summary Export Goods) (1966 to present) but it's not necessarily limited to manufacturing and it could become extremely costly. For your information, here are the SEG codes that cover the automobile industry:
51110 Passenger automobiles and chassis
51120 Trucks, truck tractors and chassis
51131 Other motor vehicles
51132 Motor vehicle engines and parts
51139 Motor vehicle parts, except engines".

They also told me that we started using NAICS in 1992 and that we had SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) prior to that. They mentioned that Industry Canada's Trade Data Online (http://www.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrkti/tdst/engdoc/tr_homep.html) would give you NAICS based data back to 1992 but that it would be difficult for the student to find NAICS data going back further than that.

Name Change - World Trade Data / Canadian Trade Data

World Trade Data is now called World Trade Analyzer
Canadian Trade Data is now called World Trade Atlas -- Canadian Edition

The content of these products has not changed, only their names have been modified.

Web:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/worldtrade.htm
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/cantrade.htm

FTP:
/ftp/dli/trade/world-trade-analyzer
/ftp/dli/trade/world-trade-atlas-canada-edition

Destination port and top exporter by commodity data

Question

I have a student who wants BC forest product export data to China. She wants it broken down by type of product. I was able to help her with the Trade Analyser from CHASS, but she would like more detailed data if she can get it. What she is looking for is a breakdown by Chinese destination port as well as the top BC exporters (companies) for the different products. Does anyone have suggestions for this more detailed data?

Answer

Our International Trade Division has provided me with the following information in response to your request for export data for BC forest products.

The exporter names they have are confidential and they can not disseminate any company name and/or business number.

The information they have on ports would be for Canadian ports only and is available only as a customized tabulation (on a cost-recovery basis). None of the export documentation they capture contains the port names for the country of destination i.e., Chinese ports.

They indicated that Industry Canada's online trade data (formerly known as Strategis -
http://www.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrkti/tdst/engdoc/tr_homep.html)
would have information on exports to China originating from BC by commodity up to the 6 digit level from 1996 to present day.

The World Trade Atlas (available on this page
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/cantrade.htm)
would provide you with exports to China for commodities at the HS10 level broken down by Province of Origin (BC) for the same timelines. Province of Origin is defined as the province the goods were grown, mined, or manufactured.

The International Trade Division has indicated that they would be available to provide you with assistance identifying the HS codes associated with forestry products if you need any help.

Updated Products - CTD / Education

Canadian Trade Data - 2006 (NEW!), 2004 & 2005 Revised

Canadian Trade Data is a product from the International Trade Division of Statistics Canada. It contains Canada's trade activity with the rest of the world.

FTP: ftp/dli/trade/can_trade
WEB: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/cantrade.htm

******************
Education Tables

The DLI has been provided with a few standard tables from Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics Division that they usually sell at a fee but are not listed in the on-line catalogue. These are deemed to be semi-custom tables.

The data stem from a variety of surveys including:

- Financial Information of Universities and Colleges Survey (FIUC)
- Elementary-Secondary Education Statistics Project (ESESP)
- Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs for Full-time Students at Canadian Degree-granting Institutions
- University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS)
- Financial Information of Universities and Colleges Survey (FIUC)

FTP: /usr2/ftp/dli/education
WEB: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/education.htm

Trade by Mode of Transport

Question

A grad student here is attempting to look at international trade. He is interested in looking specifically at trade by mode of transportation - what is the value of material arriving by rail / air / sea / road? He'd like at least twenty data points (twenty years, by preference). He doesn't care about examining particular commodities. CANSIM table 404-0021 would be useful if it covered more countries, more modes of transportation, and a longer time period.

I don't think that the trade statistics that we currently have allow this type of analysis - are there other Statistics Canada data which would capture this information? Should we be checking with some other government department for these data?

Answer

International Trade Division can produce this data, but at a fee only (multiple hundreds of dollars).

The Transportation Division does not have this type of information at the level requested. The student can have a look at our following publications for some information. I have not perused the pubs and doubt it will meet the user's needs - but just an FYI.

Trucking in Canada 53-222
Shipping in Canada 54-205
Rail in Canada 52-216

Looks like the CANSIM table you found may be the closest thing available free of charge.

Mining FDI in Latin America

Question

A researcher here would like to get Canadian mining foreign direct investment into Latin American countries. The following CANSIM table comes closest:

Table 376-0053
International investment position, Canadian direct investment abroad and foreign direct investment in Canada, by industry and country, annual (dollars)

The closest industry is "energy and metallic minerals", but the real problem is the level of geographic detail; the only categories are US, UK, other EU countries, Japan, OECD, Japan and OECD countries, and the wonderfully evocative "all other foreign countries". Is it possible to get more detail from Statistics Canada? Alternatively, can anyone suggest a source that might provide a little more detail, especially for South America?

Answer

One could try the NRCan? (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mms/hm_e.htm).
They have statistics, a form to request information, and a link to industry associations (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mms/lien/mac_e.htm).

The Mining Association of Canada puts out Facts and Figures
(http://www.mining.ca/www/media_lib/MAC_Documents/Publications/
English/2006_FF_Eng.pdf)
which does mention investments in general - they may have more detailed information if you contact them directly.

Trade Data

Question

A prof is asking for the following:

- Canadian exports by country by 2 digit NAICS, for 1988-present, at a quarterly frequency; also similar data but for manufacturing at the 3 digit NAICS level

- Canadian exports at the 4-digit SIC level to the countries of the U.S., U.K., Japan, China, France, Germany, and the
Netherlands (there might be a few more later), from 1985 to the latest possible year as I think SIC data ends in 2002), at an
annual frequency.

I'm at a loss here; the prof said he was referred to me by someone at STC, which suggests that I should have access to what he wants, but I'm not finding anything. Suggestions would be welcomed!

Answer

Although data is not collected at the NAICS level, it is collected at the SCG/HS/CT code level. We do have an excel spreadsheet that offers the correspondence between HS/CT code and NAICS (it is found on the FTP under dli/standard_classifications/ct-naics). Documentation is available to explain it in a little more detail.

The spreadsheet maps to the five or six digit NAICS - not two as requested.

Imports / Exports by commodity

Question

The latest issue of both Imports by commodity and Exports by commodity have been released by Stats Can in the last few days. In the SC online catalogue "Information for libraries" says that the Export by commodity CD-Rom is available to DLI.

On the other hand, Imports by commodity is apparently not available to DLI.

Are both these statements correct? If so, why can we get Exports but not Imports?

Answer

I just received an e-mail from Tony Moren explaining that there was an error in the DLI yes/no flags in the catalogue. According to Tony, the product flag should state DSP-yes, DLI -no.

Both imports and exports products will be made available through the DSP program.

International Trade Classification

Question

Students here are looking at the prospect of analyzing trade statistics for renewable energy technologies (e.g., windmills and components). Are these components explicitly identified in the SITC (and if so, where)?

Answers

1. The classification system of goods does not define whether the commodities are used for specific reasons (eg. energy). I did visit the Canadian International Merchandise Trade page
http://www.statcan.ca/trade/scripts/trade_search.cgi
and performed a keyword search for "windmills." I got some results and the codes that accompany the commodity. You can maybe use that code to access data through the Stats Can trade databases.

I always find this to be a useful tool to find commodity codes.

2. There's an outline of the SITC (4-digit) at:
http://pacific.commerce.ubc.ca/trade/sitc3-4.html

Code 7189 contains: Power generating machinery and parts thereof, n.e.s.: Engines and motors, n.e.s. (e.g., wind engines and hot air engines) and parts thereof, including parts of reaction engines (other than turbo jet parts).

Units of Measure for Trade Data

Question

A UBC researcher recently purchased some Statistics Canada trade data and now has a question about the measurements used. She reports that some of the commodities are measured in kilograms (KGM) and some in kilograms of known substance (KNS). What difference is there between the two (and a third, KSD, kilogram air dry)? Are they all equally kilograms?

I have looked at the customs tariff and related documentation, at multiple sources of trade statistics, and anywhere else I can think of, but can find nothing more than lists of abbreviations and their full names. Can the merchandise trade experts provide definitions for these terms?

Answer

Stats Can does not officially have any definitions of units of measure per se, but did confirm that it is based on the individual commodity.

An example that was provided will drive home this point I believe:

Code 2815200010 Potassium hydroxide (caustic potash), solid (UOM = KG)
Code 2815200020 Potassium hydroxide (caustic potash), in aqueous solution (UOM = KNS)

Commodities which are in liquid form often have UOM as KNS, while solids have UOM as KG. It is very dependant on the commodity, its composition, etc.

Our contact did mention that Canada Border Services have a publication defining all of the codes and some information on their state (solid/liquid) when applicable. You may wish to pursue that option as well.

In short - they are all kilograms, but different UOM are used based on the state of the product (liquid, solid, air dried).

Trade by Industry

Question

A UBC doctoral student is doing research on industries and wants summary information on Canadian bilateral trade with different countries by industry classification, not by the usual commodity classification.

The Statistics Canada-supplied data on Strategis' Trade Data Online has this for recent years using the NAICS classification and back to 1990 with the SIC classification. She needs further statistics for the period 1980-1989 to match some other work she is doing. She recognizes that she may have to do some manual work of matching commodities with industries. A note on the Trade Data Online site notes that the matching represents "a crude estimation of industry trade and is susceptible to errors." It also states the following:

"In an effort to quantify industry trade, Statistics Canada associates the exported commodity's Harmonized System (HS) code with a NAICS code using internal concordances."

CANSIM and every other source I have checked present import and export data by commodity, not by industry.

Since the data are originally from Statistics Canada I volunteered to put the question to the source. Is there anywhere to find this industry-related trade data, or to get access to the internal concordances noted above?

Answer

Trade data is available from 1980 to 1989 using the SIC classification system. However, it is only available as a custom request.

The US versions of the NAICS-HS concordances, for exports and for imports, can be downloaded from:
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/reference/codes/index.html#concordance