U.S.-China Trade Statistic Discrepancies Shrinking, Joint Study Finds

Differences between the official trade statistics produced by the U.S. and China are narrowing, a report by the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade Statistics Working Group said. Its second phase report on the statistical discrepancy of merchandise trade between the two countries updated a March 2010 report. The two nations each publish data that measures the bilateral merchandise trade flows between them, but while both follow international statistical standards, differences in the statistics arise as a result of data and methodological differences, the Department of Commerce said.

The working group found that although the total value of imports and exports between the trading partners has increased with the growth in bilateral trade, the statistical discrepancy in percentage terms has decreased. Nearly all of the differences (80-90%) arise from eastbound trade (China to the U.S.), with westbound discrepancies ranging from around 8-10% of the total, the report said. The difference as a percentage of imports in eastbound trade fell from 25.3% in 2008 to 22.4% in 2010. The discrepancy in westbound trade decreased from 12.2% to 10%.

A significant portion of the discrepancy figures involve goods shipped indirectly via intermediary countries such as Hong Kong, the report said. Value added from further processing, repacking or price mark-ups when the goods are resold in the intermediary nations contributes to the gap, it said. The working group found that goods shipped directly from China to the U.S. without entering the commerce of another country or region also contribute in large part to the discrepancy. Such shipments often have higher import values when declared to U.S. Customs because of price mark-ups by intermediaries, it said. The mark-ups occur more often with processed than general goods.