The Trade Domain

The Trade domain provides import and export trade data between source and destination countries at common border points for various product types.

The Trade domain is broken into three sections:

1. Search and Filter

You can search by various criteria including:

Data source document: name and organization
Data series: name, description, and metadata

Learn more about search functionality in FDE.

You can filter the available data series using one or more of the following criteria:

Start date and End date: Filters data series by the period dates of all data points within the series. All data series with at least one data point that has a period date inside the date range will be displayed.
Data Series status: Filters data series by active or inactive status. Inactive Data Series have been marked by a data manager as no longer receiving new data. This may be because a change in the way the data is being collected (such as a new source or change in units) warranted starting a new Data Series, or because the data is no longer being collected.
Reporting country: Filters by the country where the trade was observed.
Trade Source: Filters by the country where the product originated.
Border point: Filters by the border point where the trade was observed. This filters aggregates items into a multi-level lists. Selecting the higher-level item in the list will automatically select all the lower-level items in the list.
Note: The International category in this filter contains countries not currently monitored by FEWS NET.
Trade Destination: Filters by the destination country of the trade flow, or where the product is destined to.
Product: Filters by commodity or service, classified using a modified FEWS NET version of the UN CPC v2. This filters aggregates items into a multi-level lists. Selecting the higher-level item in the list will automatically select all the lower-level items in the list.
Flow type: Filters by the flow type of the trade, i.e., Export, Import, Re-export, or Transit.
Trade type: Filters by the type of trade, i.e., Formal or Informal.
Data Source Document: Filters by the name of the document used as the primary source of information or data.

Searching and/or applying filters creates a savable dataset. For more information on creating and saving datasets, see Create and Save Datasets.

2. Data Selection

Once you have applied your search terms and filters, you will be presented with a list of all available data series that match your criteria. A data series is a collection of related data points from a single data source that are viewable as a single row within a table of data. They represent the change over time of a specific indicator. Data series are presented in table format where each row represents a single data series.

The Trade domain data selection table includes the following columns:

Reporting country: The country that reports the trade flow. Mostly this is the source country but it can also be the destination.
Source: The source country of the trade flow; where the product has been originated.
Destination: The destination country of the trade flow; where the product is destined to.
Product name: The commodity or service classified using a modified FEWS NET version of the UN CPC v2 codes.
Flow type: The type of flow designation (i.e., Import, Export or Transit).
Trade type: The trade type designation as either Informal or Formal.
First: Period date for the first collection/reporting period in the data series.
Last: Period date for the last collection/reporting period in the data series.
Count: The number of data points in the data series.
Info: Hover over the information icon in a row to see more details including the data series ID, data source document, and data usage policy.

To visualize and export data, you will need to select one or more data series by checking the box at the beginning of the row containing that series.

In addition to selecting data series, you can interact with the data selection table in the following ways:

Selected data series can be viewed in the Selected tab.
You can clear your selections using the Clear Selection button.
By default the series are ordered alphabetically by country. You can click on the header of any column to sort by that column instead of by country.

Selecting one or more data series creates a savable dataset. For more information on creating and saving datasets, see Create and Save Datasets.

3. Data Visualization and Export

Visualize

The Trade domain currently includes Chart and Table visualizations. The Metadata tab contains descriptions and definitions of the metadata included in the visualizations and export data.

If you have selected dates in the filter section, these visualizations will only contain data points with an associated period date within the specified date range. Data points within the selected data series with a period date outside of the specified date range will not be displayed.

Chart

The Chart tab in the Trade domain displays a bar graph where each data series is represented by bars of a different color. The chart plots the product quantity against time with the x-axis representing the time and y-axis showing the product quantity.

You can interact with the chart in the following ways:

Hover over a bar to see more details including specific values.
Single click on a legend item to exclude it from the graph.
Move the sliders in the bar below the graph to zoom in or out, or use the zoom buttons above the graph to zoom to a specific length of time (e.g., 3 months or 5 years).
When zoomed in, drag the slider bar below the graph to change the time period you are viewing.
Click the download icon in the top right to download the chart or to view it in full screen.

Table

The Table tab for the Trade domain defaults to a cross tab view with a grid of columns in the following format:

Columns: The table starts with a header column. The following columns each represent a single data series.
Rows: The top 9 rows represent metadata for the dataseries. The other rows show the period date (the last day of the reporting period) and the value for each period date in that dataseries.

Field names	Metadata values for 1st data series	Metadata values for 2nd data series	Metadata values for 3rd data series
Period dates	Trade values for 1st data series	Trade values for 2nd data series	Trade values for 3rd data series

Customize

Note: These options will change based on the selected data series.

Customization options within the Trade domain allows for aggregation or conversion of the data. The available parameters are:

Reporting Schedule: Provides reporting options on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. The default reporting schedule is monthly.
Common Weight Unit: Allows the user to select a common weight unit for the selected data series. The values for any selected data series in a different weight unit are converted to the common unit. The standardized values in the common weight unit are displayed in the Chart tab, and are included alongside the original values in the Table tab and in data exports.
- The available weight units include: grams, kilograms, cuartilla, dry metric tonne, hectogram, kantar, media cuartilla, monton, ns malwa, pound, tonne, and troy oz. The default common weight unit is kilogram (kg).
Common Volume Unit: Allows the user to select a common volume unit for the selected data series. The values for any selected data series in a different volume unit are converted to the common unit. The standardized values in the common volume unit are displayed in the Chart tab, and are included alongside the original values in the Table tab and in data exports.
- The available volume units include: bag, barrel, bottle, bunch, bundle, sack, cubic meter, liter, milliliter, million British thermal units, pile, and US liquid gallon. The default common volume unit is liter.
Common Item Unit: Allows the user to select a common item unit for the selected data series. The values for any selected data series in a different item unit are converted to the common unit. The standardized values in the common item unit are displayed in the Chart tab, and are included alongside the original values in the Table tab and in data exports.
- The available item units include: tray, tubers, cart_load, day, hour, individual item, jerkin, large carton, loaf, medium carton, one way trip (passenger transport by bus), person, small bunch (handful), tuber, and week. The default common item unit is individual item.

Export

The Trade domain includes the following options:

Usage requirements: Lists any usage requirements for selected data. For example, a requirement to cite the data source.
File format: Choose from one of the available file formats. This will apply to both downloads and refreshable links.
Download: Provides a download of a static dataset. This will export only the data series that you have selected.
Copy link: Copies a refreshable link that connects directly to the FEWS NET Data Warehouse database server, allowing Excel, your browser, or another application to automatically fetch data from the server whenever the link is accessed.