Steve Johnson1
Forest product trade is extremely important to many countries. Market and sector studies rely on information on trade and trade flows at the international level. Two main systems exist for categorizing products to ensure consistency of reporting between countries.
Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS)Standard International Trade Classification (SITC)
The SITC is administered directly by the UNSD. The latest major revision of the SITC was in 1986 (SITC Rev. 3).
Cross-reference between HS96 and SITC Rev. 3
Product |
HS 96 Chapter |
SITC Rev.3 Chapter |
Logs, sawn |
44 |
24 |
Panels |
44 |
63 |
Pulp |
47 |
25 |
Paper |
48 |
64 |
Furniture |
94 |
82 |
Missing reports
Missing reports require the use of “partner analysis” to estimate trade flows, but this is inaccurate since not all partners report and those that do may make errors.
Data updating
Tropical timber