Compilation of International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) in Malawi By Joseph Chimseu Phiri at Expert Group Meeting on Compendium of Intra- African and Related Foreign Trade Statistics 5-7 th October 2011, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE Introduction Coverage and Organisation Data Sources Data Collection and Classification Quality Control Data Processing and Results Dissemination and Major Users Current Developments Conclusion

INTRODUCTION National Statistical Office (NSO) is legally mandated to compile trade statistics. External Trade section in the Economic Statistics Division does the compilation. Compilation is based on the UNSD IMTS(Rev.2) manual. We mainly look at imports, exports and re-exports.

COVERAGE Based on the guidelines set by UNSD. Compilation is done in accordance with the general trade system. As per requirement, not all goods are included in the analysis.Among those not included are:  Consignment of goods in direct transit.  Returned merchandise and returned parking materials  Merchandise repair free of charge.  Personal belongings

COVERAGE continued….. Goods excluded in analysis are:  Goods imported by diplomatic corps.  Supplies under military defense agreements.  Commercial samples.

DATA SOURCES Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA)  Electronically captured Custom declaration data in ASYCUDA++ and some hard forms are sent to NSO by 15 th of every month.  Submission of soft copies is through . Hardcopies come by post.

DATA SOURCES continued… Electricity Supply Commission of (ESCOM) Major exporting companies and associations :  ILLOVO Sugar Corporation  Tea Coffee Association of Malawi and  Tobacco Control Commission

DATA COLLECTION AND CLASSIFICATION NSO receives electronic data in ASYCUDA ++ format from busiest ports of MRA Hard copies from other smaller ports Electricity export tariff from ESCOM Other hard copies come from Tea Ass. Of Malawi and Tobacco Control Commission

Three classifications of goods are followed during data analysis i.e.  HS – classifies goods into physical material nature (97 categories)  SITC Rev. 4 – classifies goods for statistical purposes/level of processing.  BEC Rev 4-Classifies goods according to end use. DATA COLLECTION AND CLASSIFICATION

QUALITY CONTROL Hard copies from Non automated customs offices undergo  Sorting  Manual Checks  Verification of Codes  Wrong and late entries are identified.  These are sent back to MRA for physical verification.

QUALITY CONTROL CONTINUED… Quality control of electronic data from Automated Customs office involves:  Checking of codes e.g. HS, partner country etc.  The relationship that exists between net weight and supplement unit (pieces).  The checks are built up in the validation rules of the EUROTRACE package.

DATA PROCESSING AND RESULTS EUROTRACE vers. 2.5 is the main package for data processing and analysis. It consists of 3 modules namely DBMS, Editor and Comext. Data is loaded into the server. It is then converted and stored in the EUROTRACE In EUROTACE,data is processed It is extracted and exported to Ms Excel for tabulation and graphing.(examples of a table and a graph in the next two slides below that were made in excel.

IMPORTS(HS) BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND VALUE IN MALAWI KWACHA TABLE 1.1: FISH IMPORTS BY HS AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR AUGUST 2010 IMPORTS HS CODEDESCRIPTION Country of Origin Unit of MeasureQuantityCIF Value FROZEN SARDINESLEBANONKgs DRIED FISH, NOT SMOKED (EXCTANZANIAKgs FROZEN CRABSTANZANIAKgs FRESH OR CHILLED SALMONIDAE SOUTH AFRICAKgs FROZEN FISH FILLETS, NES SOUTH AFRICAKgs OTHER FISH SALTED OR IN BRINE SOUTH AFRICAKgs

MONTHLY IMPORT AND EXPORT LEVELS FOR 2011 (MwK bill.)

DATA DISSEMINATION AND USERS The trade statistics are released in the following official NSO publications: Monthly Statistical Bulletin (MSB) Quarterly Statistical Bulletin (QSB) Trade Brief Release Annual Trade Statistics Report Office website: Major users are: Private and Public sector Regional and International organizations e.g. COMESA, SADC, IMF, UNSD

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS NSO is arranging with MRA to have data that would facilitate compilation of FOB value tables for imports. Mid 2010 Malawi with support from COMESA introduced Special Trade Regime (STR) with Zambia. NSO is in a process of developing a Trade Information System(TIS). Designed to provide a one stop-shop for all information regarding trade in Malawi.

CONCLUSSION External Trade Statistics are vital to any country Strides are being made to fully implement the Updated and new recommendations of IMTS (2010).

End of Presentation! Thank You for your Attention