Market Data

TOAM: a tool to identify and tackle trade barriers

Obstacles  Alert Mechanism (TOAM) reports and tackles trade barriers faced by small and medium-sized businesses.

How can the Trade Obstacles Alert Mechanism work for you?

• Report and inform: Companies can report online the obstacles they face when exporting or importing.
• Dispatch automatic alerts: National authorities and trade operators will be mutually alerted about the obstacles reported and the responses provided.
• Monitor progress: Policymakers and trade support institutions can access an up-to-date information database on the obstacles  faced by the  private sector and put in place the appropriate policies.

What are the Trade Obstacles Alert Mechanism components?

• An online platform connecting companies and fostering the exchange of information about trade regulations and procedures between the private and public sectors.
• An institutional network ensuring the cooperation of different actors involved in the identification and resolution of problems reported through the online platform.

What are the impacts?

• Improving the business environment and regional economic integration by simplifying the flow of information between the public and private sectors.
• Assisting national and regional authorities in the design of trade facilitation policies.
• Providing the public and private sectors with the trainings and equipment needed to deepen the understanding of regulatory and procedural obstacles.

The International Trade Centre’s monthly Trade Briefs series brings together the most recent ITC data and research and presents it in a user-friendly, customizable, web-based format.

Each issue explores monthly variations in goods exports across countries, regions, and sectors, and reports on changes in market access conditions linked to temporary trade measures and notifications of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures. The series also features other trade data such as services exports, investment flows, export potential, and voluntary sustainability standards, and showcases trade-related research from ITC and other institutions.

The monthly briefs aim to support the trade policy debate by providing reliable, timely, and useful information to policymakers, trade journalists, and the wider trade community.

ITC’s Procurement Map is an online tool designed to help businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), bid for public procurement contracts around the world.

It includes a country-by-country breakdown of up to 100,000 public tenders and indicates when countries have procurement policies that favour women-owned businesses or SMEs.

The Procurement Map is part of the ITC Market Analysis tools suite.

ITC’s Investment Map is a web-based tool that helps Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) assess which sectors in their countries have successfully attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and prioritize sectors for investment promotion. It also helps IPAs identify competing countries for foreign investment and the most active investing countries in specific sectors. Moreover, information on domestic affiliates of international companies enables enterprises to find local links to global supply chains.

The Investment Map is not only an FDI tracking tool that offers top-line aggregate figures, it also supplies FDI sector and country breakdowns. It combines information on investment flows and stocks, trade and tariff data, and activities of foreign affiliates under the UN’s ISIC revision 4. The Investment Map also provides direct links to other ITC databases, such as our Market Access Map and Trade Map, for a complete market assessment.

What does the Investment Map include?

• Total FDI flows and stocks for around 200 countries and territories
• FDI flows and stocks, broken down by industry and/or country for more than 115 countries
• Export and import data and indicators of trade performance for around 227 countries and territories
• Tariff data applied by 187 countries and faced by 200 exporting countries and territories
• Information on the location, sales, employment, and parent company on more than 150,000 foreign affiliates located in developing countries and economies in transition

Call to action: Access investmentmap.org

You can use ITC’s Market Access Map to find ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) for non-ad valorem duties in order to compare tariffs across countries.
 
The application includes tariff rate quotas (TRQs). The Market Access Map also offers a list of trade agreements with their corresponding texts of rules of origin  and certificates of origin. 
 
While accessing our Market Access Map you will also find other relevant market access data, such as trade remedies, regulatory requirements and bilateral trade flows, to help you prioritize and analyse export markets as well as prepare for market access negotiations.  
 
The tool allows for unlimited bulk data downloads and offers visualization for global perspectives of tariffs in specific sectors by country.

Market Access Map helps users identify customs tariffs, tariff rate quotas, trade remedies, regulatory requirements and preferential regimes applicable to products.

Each year, governments submit to the World Trade Orgazanition (WTO) more than 5,000 technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. 

How can producers, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), navigate through all these notifications? 

With ePing, those registered on this free online platform receive daily or weekly alerts of notifications on sectors and products relevant to their export markets. 

Launched in 2016, ePing also includes additional features such as the national forum, a communication platform where subscribers can discuss these upcoming changes with other users and government officials.

The platform is available in English, French and Spanish. Since April 2021, ePing is also acessible in Vietnamese (https://ntmsurvey.intracen.org/epingvietnam).

The project is a joint initiative of United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), ITC and the WTO.

e-Ping tool

The International Trade Centre’s Export Potential Map uses big data in the service of trade development. The tool translates rigorous trade analysis into practical information on export opportunities. 

The Export Potential Map evaluates a country’s export performance, a target market's demand, market access conditions, and bilateral linkages between the exporting and importing countries to estimate potential export values and rank opportunities for export diversification. 

The Export Potential Map provides timely and practical information on products, markets, and suppliers with untapped export potential.

Trade advisers can use the tool to provide detailed guidance to businesses on unexplored export opportunities.

Policymakers can consult the tool to gather information about their country’s export potential when prioritizing products and markets for national and regional export strategies, as well as for trade policy negotiations.

Private companies can use the tool to identify attractive target markets for the products they export.

The Global Trade Helpdesk simplifies market research for companies by integrating trade and business information into one user-friendly, online tool that offers comprehensive information for exploring trade opportunities and making informed business decisions. 
With rapidly evolving market conditions and government policies, trade intelligence plays a pivotal role in ensuring that businesses can diversify their market risks and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Global Trade Helpdesk provides relevant trade and market information

What does ITC’s Global Trade Helpdesk offer?

This strategic market overview provides firms with seamless access to trade statistics, import data, information on export potential, tariffs and rules of origin, regulatory requirements, export and import procedures, as well as contact details for potential buyers, trade finance providers, and support services.