Data discrepancy with source material (UN Comtrade) about oec HOT 1 CLOSED

Thanks for your interest and use of the site. The more people using the site the more we can learn about how to improve it. Data reliability is definitely the hardest aspect to get right anytime you're looking at export/import flows.

This issue you're seeing is due to the fact that BACI the organization that organizes and symmetries the raw COMTRADE data has a very specific algorithm on how they determine which country to trust. For example the issue you've brought up is that Armenia says they import $430 M in Petroleum Gas (2711) from Russia (comtrade src). BUT Russia says they export $230,350 in Petroleum Gas (2711) to Armenia (comtrade src).

What is the exact reason for this gigantic discrepancy? There could be a number of reasons, poor reporting from either country, errors in the data or potentially even fraud. You may be interested to read this paper by the folks at BACI to discover some of the nuances of the data rectifying process.

Please feel free to dig into this problem a bit more and report back with your findings, I am curious myself!

from oec.