Sweden - Exports of Goods

The statistics include the total exports and imports of goods and net trade monthly.

Concepts and definitions:

• Analytical framework: EU basic regulation 3330/91 on trade between member states (Intrastat) and EU regulation 1172/95 on trade between member and non-member states, with implementing rules and amendments.
• Goods: are defined as goods that are entering or leaving the country with the exception of those which are only transported through the country destined for another country (so-called transit goods).
• Order value: is the method by which exports are valued FOB and imports are valued CIF.
• Exports: are goods exiting the borders of Sweden that are traded with the rest of the world.
• Imports: are goods entering the borders of Sweden from the rest of the world. 
• Relationship with international guidelines: There are no differences in concept between the Swedish Foreign Trade statistics and EU basic regulation 3330/91 and EU regulation 1172/95.

Scope of the data:

• Transactions coverage:
  • Electricity: Electricity is considered as a commodity and thus included in exports and imports.
  • Transit goods: Excluded are transit goods, i.e. goods that are designated to a country outside Sweden.
• Geographic coverage: All partner countries are covered.
• Unrecorded activity: No estimations are made for missing trade due to smuggling.

Classification/sectorization:

• Classification: Products are classified by Combined Nomenclature (CN) on 8-digit level.
  The material is also published according to Standard International Trade Classification system SITC, Rev. 4, NACE Rev. 2 and Major Industrial Groups. The statistics are also published according to Prod-SNI97, which is a classification of products based on activities from the Swedish Standard Industrial Classification (SNI).

The latest monthly data on total export and import of EU handled are based on preliminary data from a subset of the enterprise included in SCB's ongoing investigation (Intrastat) trade with EU countries.

Valuation:

• Conversion to unit of account: The enterprises state the invoiced value in SEK in their reports. They are required to use either the exchange rate for the day of arrival/departure of the good or the monthly exchange rate established by the Swedish customs.
• Valuation: The goods are valuated at their statistical value, i.e. the exports are valued fob and the imports are valued cif.
  The enterprises reporting to Intrastat reports the invoiced value of the goods; using statistical methods, this value is transformed to the goods statistical value.

Source data collection programs:

• Sources: The data are based on customs documents for goods cleared through customs from non-EU member countries, and on Intrastat survey data compiled from companies trading goods with partners in EU member countries.
• Data are compiled from:

1. Intrastat, a monthly sample survey of dispatches to/arrivals from other EU member states;

2. Extrastat, customs administrative records for goods to/from non-EU countries cleared through customs;

3. Tax returns, administrative records in the VAT system of the government. Tax returns are used to compensate for non-response and coverage errors.

• Type of data collected: Values and quantities (net weight and other quantity measures than weight for certain commodities) are collected.
• Basis of country data: Imports from EU member states are classified according to country of consignment, imports from non-EU states also by country of origin.
• All exports are classified according to country of destination.

Source data statistical techniques:

• Adjustments to improve coverage: Merchandise trade with EU member countries is a sample survey, Intrastat, where the sample is drawn using cut off sampling. The threshold limit for an enterprise to be included in the survey is 1,500,000 SEK for imports and/or exports during the last 12 months as stated in their tax returns. This method includes about 97 per cent of the total value of the trade between Sweden and other EU member countries. For these enterprises, data are collected on both commodities and partner countries each month. 
• To compensate for the remaining 3 per cent of the trade information from the enterprises, tax returns are used where the enterprises total trade with EU member countries can be collected. 
• Non-response in the survey accounts for, at the first releases during 2003, around 3 per cent of the total value for arrivals and around 2 per cent of the total value for dispatches. This is compensated for by using the enterprises tax returns.
• Adjustment for non-response: To compensate for non-response, two different methods are used. The first method uses exponential smoothing to extrapolate the values. The second method, which is used when no useful historical values, uses the tax returns.
• Adjustment for undercoverage: To compensate for undercoverage, due to the threshold level, tax returns are used.
• Processing system: The Swedish Customs use a national system for collecting customs data.
• Site of processing: Statistics Sweden is responsible for processing and publishing of data. The Swedish customs performs checking and correction of Extrastat data before delivering to Statistics Sweden.
• Timing of recording transactions: Time of recording is, for Intrastat, the month when the merchandise is delivered by/arrived to the enterprise and for Extrastat when the merchandise is cleared through customs.
• Reconciliation procedures: Values of commodities on the reports returned by the enterprises are checked by comparing the reported value with current average price for specified item.
  Monthly value of EU trade is checked against VAT returns on company level.

Other statistical procedures:

• Seasonal adjustment: Data on total imports, total exports and net trade of goods are adjusted for seasonal and working day effects. Seasonal adjustment is available only on the global data.
• Geographic detail: Merchandise trade with non-EU countries, Extrastat, covers all shipments of goods by commodity and partner country. Data is collected from the Swedish customs service.
• Commodity detail: Data are published for commodities (the most detailed level being 6-digit level for CN) and partner countries.
• Base year: Volume indices are published on a quarterly basis with base year 1990.
• Confidential data: Disclosure avoidance is kept by publishing confidential data, on low levels, only by country and not by commodity. Data on higher levels, which include confidential data on lower levels, is published by both country and commodity if this does not reveal the confidential data.

The data are preliminary when first released and the detailed trade data are normally revised during the next five months. Final annual data are released about 15 months after the end of the reference year. Data is published in Sweden's Statistical Databases which is a database accessible at the Internet website of Statistics Sweden, free of charge.

The statistics are provisional and may be revised at a later date. The results for EU trade in the last month are encumbered with some uncertainty depending on the selection.

Source: The Official Statistics of Sweden; http://www.scb.se/en_/Finding-statistics/Statistics-by-subject-area/Trade-in-goods-and-services/Foreign-trade/Foreign-trade---exports-and-imports-of-goods/#documentation_