Why to measure international transport and insurance costs?
Measuring international transport and insurance costs is critical to understand the dynamics of merchandise trade. While numerous factors influence the volume and geography of international merchandise trade, transport costs and the related insurance charges have a direct and material impact on trade patterns and on a country’s competitiveness. However, quantitative information on transport and insurance costs associated with international merchandise trade is still limited, with only around thirty economies making this information available with the required level of product and partner breakdown. The OECD has been working to fill this data gap since 2016, when ITIC was published for the first time. ITIC is an analytical dataset, and as such it combines official information with estimations for non-reported data. As more countries report their imports according to both CIF and FOB, the quality of ITIC will gradually improve.
