1、Trade volume and trade volume
Trade volume is the amount of trade expressed in money, trade volume is the amount of trade after excluding the effect of price changes, trade volume makes the scale of trade in different periods can be compared. Here are three concepts to master:
(1) Value of Foreign Trade: It is the sum of total imports and total exports of a country in a certain period. Generally expressed in the currency of the country, but also available in the currency customarily used internationally; the United Nations issued by the world’s foreign trade volume is expressed in U.S. dollars; countries in the statistics of tangible goods, exports are calculated at FOB prices, imports are calculated at CIF prices; intangible goods are not declared, customs statistics are not.
(2) Value of International Trade: It is the comprehensive value of foreign trade of all countries in the world expressed in currency, also known as the value of international trade. It is equal to a certain period of time, the sum of the world’s export trade calculated using FOB prices.
(3) Trade volume: Trade volume is an indicator established to exclude the impact of price changes and accurately reflect the actual volume of international trade or a country’s foreign trade. In the calculation, the price index determined by a fixed year as the base period to remove the trade volume of the reporting period, the resulting is equivalent to the amount of trade calculated at constant prices (excluding the impact of price changes), the value is called the volume of trade in the reporting period.
Trade volume can be divided into international trade volume and foreign trade volume, as well as export trade volume and import trade volume.
2、Balance of Trade
Balance of Trade is the difference between a country’s total exports and total imports in a certain period (usually one year).
(1) Favorable Balance of Trade, China also called it Excess of Export over Import: that a certain period of exports is greater than the amount of imports.
(2) Unfavorable Balance of Trade, China also called it Excess of Import over Export, that a certain period of exports is less than the amount of imports.
(3) Trade balance: It means that the export amount of a certain period is equal to the import amount.
It is generally believed that the trade surplus can promote economic growth and increase employment, so countries do not pursue a trade surplus. However, a large surplus will often lead to trade disputes. For example, the Japan-US auto trade war.
3、Terms of International Trade
Terms of International Trade: It is the comparison between the price of exported goods and the price of imported goods, also known as the import ratio or exchange ratio. It indicates that the export of a unit of goods can be exchanged for how many units of imported goods. Obviously, the more imported goods you get back, the more favorable it is. Changes in the terms of trade over time are usually represented by the terms of trade index, which is the ratio of the export price index and the import price index, calculated as follows: the export price index divided by the import price index and multiplied by 100 (assuming that the terms of trade index for the base period is 100).
The terms of trade index for the reporting period is greater than 100, indicating that the terms of trade have improved compared to the base period.
If the terms of trade index of the reporting period is less than 100, it means that the terms of trade have deteriorated compared with the base period.
4.Commodity structure of trade
Composition of Trade is the proportion of various commodities in the total value of trade. Here involves a commodity classification problem, there are generally two classification methods.
(1) The United Nations Secretariat’s “Standard International Trade Classification” (SITC): Tangible goods are divided into 10 categories, of which 0-4 goods are called primary products, 5-8 goods are called manufactured goods, and the 9th category is not classified as other goods. The proportion of primary products and manufactured goods in the import and export commodities indicates the commodity structure of trade.
(2) is classified according to the production of a certain commodity input factors of production, can be divided into labor-intensive goods, capital-intensive goods and other certain factors of production-intensive goods.
5、Geographical direction of trade
(1) Direction of Foreign Trade
The geographical direction of foreign trade refers to the distribution of the country of origin of imported goods and the country of consumption of exported goods, which indicates the extent of economic and trade ties between the country and various regions and countries in the world.
For example, in 2003, China’s top ten sources of imports were Japan, the European Union, Taiwan Province, ASEAN, South Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia and Brazil. 2003, China’s top ten export markets were the United States, Hong Kong, the European Union, Japan, ASEAN, South Korea, Taiwan Province, Australia, Russia and Canada. The top ten trading partners of China in 2003 (based on the total amount of imports and exports) are Japan, the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, ASEAN, South Korea, Taiwan Province, Russia, Australia and Canada.
(2) Direction of International Trade
It refers to the regional distribution of international trade and the flow of goods, that is, each region, each country in the international trade position. Usually with their exports (or imports) accounted for the world’s total exports of trade (or total imports of trade) to express the proportion.
For example, in 2003, the top eight countries or regions in world merchandise exports are the United States, Germany, Japan, France, China, Britain, Canada, Italy. 2003, the top eight countries or regions in world merchandise imports are the United States, Germany, Britain, Japan, France, China, Italy, Canada.
6、Foreign Dependence Degree
Foreign Dependence Degree is a basic indicator to measure the degree of outward orientation of a country (or region)’s national economy. It refers to the proportion of foreign trade in the national income or gross national product of the country.