The 2011 International Trade Statistics Yearbook (2011 ITSY) is being issued in two volumes which are prepared at different points in time during 2012. Volume I - Trade by Country is compiled early in 2012 (in May 2012) to allow for an advanced release of an overview of international merchandise trade in 2011 and for a much earlier publication of the available 2011 country (area) data. Volume II – Trade by Commodity contains the detailed tables showing international trade in main commodity groups and is finalized approximately six months after the completion of Volume I as the preparation of those tables requires additional country data which, normally, become available later in the year. Volume II contains also updated versions of the two world trade tables published in Volume I.

Volume I presents detailed data for a total of 174 countries (or areas) with the 2011 data on imports and exports by commodity and trading partner provided for 92 countries (areas), representing approximately 79% of world trade of 2011. All tables of Volume I are made available electronically shortly after the completion of the manuscript.Beginning with the 2008 edition Volume I is published in a redesigned format in respect to the presentation of data for individual countries with the aim to provide a more analytical and condensed view of a country’s trade performance (country trade profile).

The detailed information about the trade of particular countries by commodity and partner (values and quantities) contained in the tables and graphs for individual countries in Volume I and commodities in Volume II are taken from the publicly available database UN Comtrade (http://comtrade.un.org/db/default.aspx). Users are advised to visit UN Comtrade for any additional and more current information as it is continuously updated.