Question:
Are re-exports counted as imports?
Should re-export > imports always be true?
Background/Discussion:
I know from the knowledgebase article (link below) that re-exports are counted as exports. Hence, it should always be true that re-exports>exports. So I happily calculate:
exports_dometically_produced=exports - re-exports
Re-exports are also foreign goods that are initially imported and then re-exported. Everything else is domestically consumed. As an identity:
imports = imports_consumed + imports_re-exported
Since all of the above quantities are positive, re-export > imports should always be true, right?
However, in the data, I find several examples where it is not true. See trade from reporter=USA to partner=WORLD, HS2002 classification, year=2005:
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| commod~y tradev~1 tradeva~2 tradev~3 reexpo~t ratio_~t |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
1. | 2842 41713321 1.321e+08 83700280 .4814195 2.00656 |
11. | 5001 12575 159729 30726 .1783244 2.443419 |
37. | 3205 5454728 62185489 7849886 .1160535 1.439098 |
607. | 8602 3504956 4.266e+08 6956311 .0161718 1.984707 |
867. | 2307 2167 2982164 24753 .0082943 11.4227 |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
1052. | 1202 155049 1.308e+08 500366 .0038195 3.227148 |
1154. | 2603 475832 3.631e+08 495131 .0013618 1.040558 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
(copy and paste into a fixed-width font for proper vieweing)
The commodity is the 4 digit HS2002 code. 1=import, 2=export, 3=re-export, ratio=3/1
Some possible answers:
1. It may be possible that an item imported solely for re-export isn't counted as an import.
2. It may be possible that re-export value is higher than import value, because of trader markups.
3. It may be possible that items re-exported were imported in an earlier year.
4. Maybe there is a rule that if the good is modified minimally (less than 50%), than the good can count as re-export.
Any advice is appreciated.
This KnowledgeBase article has ample information:
Q10152 - INFO: Distinction between Exports and Re-exports / Imports and Re-imports
but does not answer my question.