How data affects our business - Data Driven Results

Trade analysis will remain crucial to strategic decision-making as global tensions and tariff-related activities rise. Through the examination of trade data, you can uncover important market insights to better guide your business decisions. Data on trade can be used to demonstrate the workings of product supply chains, local demand for goods and services, as well as recent changes in the international flow of raw materials.

The workings of product supply chains, local demand for goods and services, as well as recent changes in the international flow of raw materials, may all be seen in trade data.

Apparent Consumption

In cases when estimates for the production of certain goods within specific geographic borders are available, trade analysis can be used to calculate the local demand for specific commodities and services. A nation's output, as well as its imports and exports, are considered in this assessment of the demand for a commodity within that country, known as apparent consumption.

“Domestic production minus exports and imports equals apparent consumption.”

For instance, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that Canada produced 8.7 million metric tonnes of barley in 2016. In the same time frame, it bought less than 0.1 million metric tonnes and exported 1.2 million metric tonnes of barley. Therefore, it may be assumed that Canada consumes about 7.5 million metric tonnes of barley annually.

This kind of study is sensitive to any inaccuracies in the trade statistics as well as the domestic output reported by official government sources. Estimating the demand for a product in a particular country frequently offers a suitable starting point.