HS vs SITC

[endritp]

Hi,

I have noticed a drastic difference in numbers between HS and SITC when comparing the same product exported by a country for example export of apples from Argentina when using HS system it totals $147M in 2010 whereas when using SITC it totals $492M I am sure there should be similar discrepancies for other products as well. I understand that HS and SITC use different labeling for different products but same labeling for some products for example apples and I don't know how to explain that huge discrepancy other than error in data. I might be wrong but I wanted to point it out anyway.

thanks,

endrit

[alexandersimoes]

Thanks for your concern with the data reliability, this is definitely something we take seriously and the reason why we're relying on the BACI-CEPII dataset (as it's been cleaned using a well documented and rigorous method).

The issue you bring up with discrepancies between HS and SITC is due to the fact that you're trying to compare apples with oranges ;-). Well, not that far off actually, you see the SITC revision 2 and HS 92 classification do not contain the exact same products at the 4 digit level (which we are using on the site). Unfortunately while dealing with these 2 classifications there is no 1 to 1 mapping so when you are looking at one product, say apples for instance, and switch classifications, the tool does its best to find the most similar corresponding product.

The HS category 0808 "Apples, pears and quinces, fresh" contains not just apples but also pears and quinces while the corresponding SITC category of 0574 "Apples, fresh" ONLY contains apples. For SITC pears and quinces are contained in 0579 "Fruit, fresh or dried, nes" as well as many other fruits - like berries, pineapples, avocadoes, mangoes and more. Thus it would make sense that the HS category 0808 could contain a higher dollar amount as it contains more products.

Hope this helps!