IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rba/rbabul/dec2015-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing China’s Merchandise Trade Data Using Mirror Statistics

Author

Listed:
  • Iris Day

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Abstract

Given their timeliness, Chinese trade data have the potential to provide a useful early read on conditions in the Australian and global traded sectors. However, the reliability of China’s merchandise trade data has come under scrutiny in recent years, particularly following reports of over-invoicing of exports to Hong Kong. This article considers the accuracy of China’s trade data by comparing the merchandise trade statistics with the reciprocal trade statistics or ‘mirror’ statistics published by its major trading partners (MTPs). In broad terms, growth in trade suggested by the mirror statistics aligns relatively closely with published Chinese data, though the Chinese figures are found to imply more volatile and somewhat higher growth in exports over the past three years than the corresponding trading partner data. While this largely reflects differences with mirror statistics for Hong Kong, it is also due to discrepancies with data from other economies, primarily in the Asian region.

Suggested Citation

  • Iris Day, 2015. "Assessing China’s Merchandise Trade Data Using Mirror Statistics," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 19-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbabul:dec2015-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/dec/pdf/bu-1215-3.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 2004. "Intermediaries in Entrepôt Trade: Hong Kong Re‐Exports of Chinese Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 3-35, March.
    2. Ferrantino, Michael J. & Wang, Zhi, 2008. "Accounting for discrepancies in bilateral trade: The case of China, Hong Kong, and the United States," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 502-520, September.
    3. Harry X. Wu, 2007. "The Chinese GDP Growth Rate Puzzle: How Fast Has the Chinese Economy Grown?," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eden Hatzvi & Jessica Meredith & William Nixon, 2015. "Chinese Capital Flows and Capital Account Liberalisation," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 39-48, December.
    2. Iwona Markowicz & Pawel Baran, 2021. "Mirror data asymmetry in international trade by commodity group:the case of intra-Community trade," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 12(4), pages 889-905, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saka, Umut Mete & Duzgun, Sebnem & Bazilian, Morgan D., 2024. "Analysis of world trade data with machine learning to enhance policies of mineral supply chain transparency," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Dietzenbacher, Erik & Pei, Jiansuo & Yang, Cuihong, 2012. "Trade, production fragmentation, and China's carbon dioxide emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 88-101.
    3. Benkovskis, Konstantins & Wörz, Julia, 2018. "What drives the market share changes? Price versus non-price factors," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 9-29.
    4. Auer, Raphael A. & Mehrotra, Aaron, 2014. "Trade linkages and the globalisation of inflation in Asia and the Pacific," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(PA), pages 129-151.
    5. Wang, Zhi & Gehlhar, Mark & Yao, Shunli, 2010. "A globally consistent framework for reliability-based trade statistics reconciliation in the presence of an entrepôt," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 161-189, March.
    6. Christian Volpe Martincus, 2016. "Out of the Border Labyrinth: An Assessment of Trade Facilitation Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 96856, February.
    7. Shaar, Karam & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi, 2016. "US-China trade: Who is telling the truth?," Working Paper Series 19470, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    8. Shalendra D. Sharma, 2009. "Dealing with the Contagion: China and India in the Aftermath of the Subprime Meltdown," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 17(2), pages 1-14, March.
    9. Latouche, Karine & Rouviere, Elodie, 2011. "Brokers vs. Retailers: Evidence from the French Imports Industry of Fresh Produce," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114398, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Besedes, Tibor & Prusa, Thomas J., 2006. "Product differentiation and duration of US import trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 339-358, December.
    11. Xu, Juanyi, 2011. "The optimal currency basket under vertical trade," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1323-1340.
    12. Chan, Jackie M.L., 2019. "Financial frictions and trade intermediation: Theory and evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 567-593.
    13. Sinclair, Tara M., 2019. "Characteristics and implications of Chinese macroeconomic data revisions," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1108-1117.
    14. Carballo, Jerónimo & Rodriguez Chatruc, Marisol & Salas Santa, Catalina & Volpe Martincus, Christian, 2022. "Online business platforms and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    15. Giancarlo Corsetti & Meredith Crowley & Lu Han & Huasheng Song, 2018. "Markets and Markups: A New Empirical Framework and Evidence on Exporters from China," Discussion Papers 1803, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    16. Temesgen Worku & Juan P. Mendoza & Jacco L. Wielhouwer, 2016. "Tariff evasion in sub-Saharan Africa: the influence of corruption in importing and exporting countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(4), pages 741-761, August.
    17. Araujo, Luis & Mion, Giordano & Ornelas, Emanuel, 2016. "Institutions and export dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 2-20.
    18. Pol Antrás & Arnaud Costinot, 2010. "Intermediation and Economic Integration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 424-428, May.
    19. Hayakawa,Kazunobu, 2024. "The Trade Effects of the US Export Control Regulations," IDE Discussion Papers 911, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    20. James Harrigan & Haiyan Deng, 2010. "China's Local Comparative Advantage," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 109-133, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rba:rbabul:dec2015-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paula Drew (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rbagvau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.