TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS

All data is prone to statistical anomalies. Some of the limitations in the dataset used to create this report, as well as the data outputs herein, are detailed below:

1. Country of origin and/or supplier may be listed incorrectly if an importer or seller has sent goods from the country of origin to an intermediate country before it arrives at the destination. The process of transhipment is legal but it can be used to obfuscate the original supplier and country source.

2. Company names can appear in varying formats (i.e. misspelling etc), leading them to be counted as two different organizations.

3. Certain countries restrict access to bill of lading records to only those shipped via sea freight.

4. Quantity measures and descriptions are not always included on a bill of lading, either due to error or deliberate redaction.

5. In rare circumstances the HS code may be incorrectly listed and/or be blank; making it challenging to map product description against common HS classification.

6. Misdeclaration of values of products to reduce/eliminate import duties and/or avoid antidumping duties.

7. In some countries, companies also have the right to redact their name from the records, which can hamper efforts to track supply chains comprehensively.

8. If the electronic bill system is not secured, it can be hacked, and the details can be manipulated as per the convenience of the hacker.

9. Translation of each bill of lading was performed from the native language of the source customs-agency into English via electronic means. This may lead to translation errors.

10. Product values are expressed in US dollars and were calculated at the time of import or export from the data source origin country against US Federal Reserve figures. Bilateral exchange rate data is updated only one time per week by the US Federal Reserve (every Monday at 4:15 pm) and exchange rates may have varied significantly within this window.

11. Certain products may have a value-add component vs others appearing under the same HS

Code. This can lead to skewing of price models when data is viewed in aggregate.