International Trade in Goods

Contact info

External Economy, Economic Statistics
Stefan Gottschalck Anbro
+45 51 60 58 46

Get documentation of statistics as pdf

International Trade in Goods 2023

Omlægning af tabeller om betalingsbalance og udenrigshandel i statistikbanken den 10. juni 2024 (pdf) (in Danish only)

The statistics shows the development in Denmark's external trade in goods at a detailed level (imports and exports) by country and type of commodity. The statistics have been compiled regularly since 1838 covering 1836 and onwards.

Statistical presentation

The statistics show Denmark's imports and exports of goods from/to all countries in the world distributed by about 9,300 different commodity codes. The statistics do not cover the External trade of the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Statistical processing

Trade data is collected on monthly basis using the various data sources. The collected data are validated for logical errors and completeness and a credibility check of the reported data is carried out.

The collected data are used to compile the trade figures and full coverage of trade is ensured by estimation for missing. There is thus full coverage of International Trade in Goods in the disseminated statistics.

In connection with the release of trade figures some time series are seasonal adjusted and furthermore indices are calculated.

Relevance

There is great interest in the disseminated statistics of External Trade in Goods among users who monitor the Danish economy. The statistics are demanded widely by trade and industry organisations, the bank and finance sector, politicians, public and private institutions, researchers, enterprises, news media, embassies and international organisations.

The statistics is also used for compilation of National Accounts and Balance of Payments Statistics. Furthermore, Eurostat use the statistics to make joint EU trade statistics.

The users view the External Trade in Goods Statistics as an important short term indicator, and it often gets a lot of attention in the media and amongst professional users.

Accuracy and reliability

The reliability of the final statistics at aggregated level is relatively high. In Extrastat, the reliability at detailed commodity/country levels is also high, while the reliability is comparatively lower in Intrastat due to the margins of uncertainty involved in estimating trade by enterprises exempted from reporting data.

However, the first publications of the external figures are subject to some uncertainty, as a relatively high number of errounous data reports cannot be included at the time of publication. Compensation for this is made by estimation and a later correction. The reliability of figures for a given month is greatly increased by later publications of statistics. Similarly, the highest reliability is achieved at aggregated level.

Timeliness and punctuality

Aggregated statistics for selected countries and country groups and for aggregated commodity groups are published monthly 40 days after the end of the reference period. Detailed statistics are published 70 days after the end of the reference period.

The statistics are usually published without delay in relation to the scheduled date, which is announced at least 3 months in advance on Statistics Denmark's website

Comparability

At overall level, the statistics are comparable across time and with statistics from other countries.

Accessibility and clarity

These statistics are published monthly in a Danish press release, at the same time as the tables are updated in the StatBank. In the StatBank, these statistics can be found under International trade in goods. For further information, go to the subject page.