Imports Data, Importing Statistics, Import Information

Imports data provides comprehensive information on a country’s sources, worth and nature of imported merchandise. The data is measured by collecting, compiling and calculating import-related statistics obtained from various individual or government authorities.

Imports Information: Sources

Imports data can be collected from any of the following sources:

Government Publications: They provide comprehensive coverage of facts, reports and statistics for reference.

Importers: They provide an accurate figure of amount imported by them by using the bill of lading, which is the receipt of goods loaded on board a carriage.

Custom Authorities: They have a record of goods that get passed through the customs.

Imports Data: Trends

In the last decade, some of the imports data trends are:

Imports to a country have grown faster than its GDP. So, the share of imports in the GDP is significantly higher than what it used to be in the 1970s.

The 2008 recession has resulted in a trend of inversion. This means that the rate of imports to a country declines and triggers the growth of its domestic economy. As a result, trade balance improves and eventually leads to a trade deficit that turns into a trade surplus.

In 2005, the abolition of the Multi Fiber Agreement was a milestone in the history of international textile trade. Its quota restrictions on the amount of textiles that the ‘developing countries’ could export to developed nations had constricted growth possibilities. So its abolition transformed the whole dynamics of sourcing and exporter-importer relationship.

As indicated by the imports data collected by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2008, the world’s top five importers are as follows:

United States ($2.17 trillion)

Germany ($1.21 trillion)

China ($1.13 trillion)

Japan ($762 billion)

France ($708 billion)

In today’s era of globalization, the relevance of evaluating imports information cannot be set aside. It enables government bodies to determine a country’s balance of trade and identify whether the trends inch towards trade deficit. In case of a trade deficit, the government can modify its regulations to improve the balance.