World Trade Flows, 1980-1997

<p>These data concern bilateral trade flows in the world. The data are based on the database called World Trade Analyzer (WTA) assembled by Statistics Canada, which contains bilateral trade flows for all countires over 1980-1997, classified according to the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 2 (with some modification). The main source for the bilateral trade data is the United Nations Statistical Office., which collects the trade data from individual countries, providing them with an international trade classification into which they are to fit their own national systems as best they can. The United Nations (UN) then publishes these data in summary form in the Yearbook of International Trade Statistics and in the full reported detail in Commodity Trade Statistics, but does not attempt to supplement the reported data or make them consistent across countries or years.</p>
<p>Statistics Canada has recompiled the UN trade data on a consistent basis, using a version of the Standard Intemational Trade Classification (SITC) Revision 2, modified to match Canadian trade and industry classifications and to accommodate some of the variation in the way countries report their data.</p>