Bridging trade statistics with business statistics Eurostat's experiences of register linkages

1
Bridging trade statistics with business
statistics Eurostat's experiences of register
linkages

• Karo Nuortila
• Eurostat/Unit G3
• International Trade Statistics - Production

2
Trade statistics vs. business statistics

• Statistics on trading of goods describe trade
  flows between countries with a breakdown of
  products
• Monthly statistics with detailed breakdowns of
  products and partner countries
• No data on traders (no explicit statistical
  units)
• Business Statistics, in particular SBS, describe
  the structure and evolution of activities of
  businesses
• Annual (SBS) or monthly (STS) statistics with a
  great number of variables
• Basic breakdown according to the economic
  activity
• Limited information on external trade
• Trade and business statistics are based on
  different concepts and classification, thus using
  them separately may provide incoherent basis for
  analysing the effects of external trade on
  production, employment and enterprises
  performances.

3
Identification of traders in trade statistics

• European trade statistics consist of two systems
  intra-EU trade (Intrastat) and extra-EU trade
  (Extrastat)
• Data on intra-EU trade is collected via
  statistical survey (Intrastat) directly from
  traders
• Close link to VAT system
• Member States need to keep a register on intra-EU
  traders
• Data on extra-EU trade is collected through
  Customs declarations
• Registering of traders is not (yet) harmonised
  across Member States
• Identification codes are administrative codes

4
How to make trade statistics coherent with
business characteristics?

• Macro or micro approach?
• Macro approach use product correspondence tables
  or input-output tables to associate products to
  manufacturing origin or to final use
• Micro approach link trade registers/data with
  business register
• Arguments why micro approach is beneficial
• Relies on the real information rather than
  theoretical assumptions
• The link between traders and businesses is
  required by Business Register Regulation
• No need for data collection uses the data
  already collected
• Consistent and coherent definition of statistical
  units
• Detailed level of trade data can be maintained
• The most important economic characteristics are
  available (economic activity, number of
  employees, turnover)
• Can be extended to cover all statistics related
  to businesses

5
Link between trade operators and statistical
units
Business Register
Trade Register (Intrastat/Extrastat) and detailed
data
Legal unit (id-code)

• Trade operator (id-code)
• Trade value by
• Product code
• Partner country

• Enterprise
• Economic activity (NACE)
• Number of employees

6
Trade statistics by enterprise characteristicspr
oject history in brief

• First discussions and methodological studies
  started in late 1990s.
• Methodology and indicators developed by Eurostat
  Task Force Trade Registers/Globalisation
• Four centralised pilot studies undertaken since
  2002
• Reference years 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2005
• Actions by the EU Member States co-financed by
  the Commission
• Fifth study for reference year 2006 just started
• Methodology developed over time
• Changes in indicators, breakdowns and compilation
  rules
• Currently 6 indicators with harmonised breakdowns
  
• Results of the last two studies are available in
  public Circa site Circa

7
Matching of trade and business registers

• Quality of statistics based on register linkage
  depends on the matching rates between source data
  sets
• In most cases the matching has been very
  successful, sometimes almost perfect
• Some systematic non-matching cases
• Non-resident traders
• NACE sections A, B and L
• Private individuals
• Artificial codes
• A particular problem in matching of complex
  businesses trade may be allocated to headquarter
  instead of true trader

8
Next steps

• Thus far data collection has been voluntary but
  the revisions of Intrastat and Extrastat legal
  acts will make it obligatory from 2009/2010
  (reference years) onwards
• Before that data collection will continue on
  voluntary basis
• New areas to be studied in the frame of MEETS
  programme
• Possible extension to other variables (SBS, trade
  of services)
• Enterprise group through the EGR trade of
  multinational enterprise groups