How to use Trade Map to pick export markets

What Trade Map answers and where it stops

Trade Map is a trade statistics tool built and run by the International Trade Centre (ITC, UNCTAD/WTO). It covers more than 230 economies and gives monthly, quarterly and yearly data on goods and services since 2001. It combines figures that countries report themselves with ITC's mirror data technique: where a country does not report, its trade is rebuilt from what its partners report.

According to the FAQ of the legacy version, the directory draws on Kompass and Dun & Bradstreet. Registration in Kompass is voluntary, so company coverage is not complete: not every company that imports your product will be in the list.

The free plan, sign-in and the new version

ITC states that the core features of Trade Map are free for all users, and that a paid subscription called MAT Pro unlocks more. The plans page lists the free plan as "Always free" with a Sign in for access button, and the page header carries a Sign in or register link. On 10 November 2026 we could open the country tables without signing in; ITC can change the registration rule.

ITC's legacy Trade Map page says the tool has moved to a new version and that the legacy version is now open only to users with MAT Pro access. Older tutorials may show a different screen. The screen names in this guide are the ones seen in the new interface on 10 November 2026.

Find your HS code and open the country table

The Harmonized System (HS) is a product classification developed by the World Customs Organization. It identifies each commodity group by a six-digit code, and more than 200 countries and economies use it as the basis for customs tariffs and trade statistics. Countries add their own digits after the sixth: Türkiye's twelve-digit tariff code is one example, where only the first six digits are the common HS code. Because the free plan gives yearly data up to six-digit HS level, a four- or six-digit code is the right size to start with.

If you are unsure which code your product belongs to, ask your national customs authority or your customs broker before you trust the ranking. A wrong code produces a confident ranking of the wrong market.

1. In the Explore menu open Goods, then choose the Trade indicators tab.
2. Set Trade flow to Imports. Leave Importer and Exporter on World: you want every country that imports the product.
3. Type the product name or code into Product (at least two characters) and pick it from the HS codes tab of the list. If you do not know the code, the Advanced button opens Advanced product search; under HS hierarchy you can narrow the list with Filter by HS2 (two-digit chapters) and type in the Search box.
4. The result opens as a table titled Importing countries. When it first opens it is ordered by import value, largest first.

HS codes are revised from time to time, and a code can be split or merged. If you compare across years, the Harmonized System correspondences section on Trade Map's Resources page maps old codes to new ones.

Rank the importing countries

The table opens with these columns: Value imported ($), Trade balance ($), Quantity imported, Unit value, Importer's share in world imports (%), Annual growth in import for two periods (the last five years and the last year) and Annual growth in quantity. The Select indicators button extends the list with rankings, distance and concentration indicators. You can also switch the table to Bars, Map or Bubbles.

Read the indicators

The FAQ of Trade Map's legacy version says foreign trade statistics are never complete, and that smuggling and non-reporting are real problems. By international standard, exports are valued FOB and imports CIF. ITC notes that one country's reported exports rarely line up exactly with its partner's reported imports and lists more than 30 reasons; the FOB/CIF difference is one of them. Read several indicators together rather than any single one.

1. Size: from the top ten, keep countries whose value and world share are meaningful.
2. Momentum: favour countries where the five-year and the one-year growth point the same way.
3. Price level: compare the unit value with your own selling price; import value includes freight and insurance (CIF), so add that margin to your FOB price before comparing. A very low unit value can point to price pressure or to a cheaper product mix under the same code.
4. Competition: move on to the supplier table in the next section.

See who supplies the market and where you stand

Each row of the country table starts with two icons; the second one (column header Exporting economies) opens that country's imports by supplying country. In the supplier table (the example country is Germany), Share in Germany's imports (%) is the supplier's share of that country's imports and Share of Germany in partners' exports (%) is how much of the supplier's exports goes to that country. Share of exporter in world's exports (%) and Ranking of exporter in world's exports show the supplier's weight worldwide.

A reading example from the 2025 Germany table for code 0901: the Brazil row shows 32 in Share in Germany's imports (%), so Brazil supplied about 32 percent of Germany's coffee imports under that code that year, and 15 in Share of Germany in partners' exports (%), so about 15 percent of Brazil's exports under that code went to Germany. Look for your own country the same way, whichever country you export from.

The table is paged (Items per page), so look for your own country's name by moving through the pages. If your country has no row, the importing country recorded no imports of this code from it that year (the table uses the importer's own reported data: Data source is Direct under Advanced options). The table does not say whether the market is empty or closed to you.

When ITC's user guide discusses the advantages of competing suppliers, it lists logistics, distribution channels, trade agreements and political ties, and it treats tariffs as a separate step. ITC's Market Access Map, a separate tool, covers customs tariffs and tariff rate quotas and is included in the free plan.

From a short list of markets to buyers

What you leave Trade Map with is a short list of countries. To turn it into sales you need to know whom to write to in each one. That step usually takes three moves.

1. For each country on the short list, decide which kind of buyer you want: importer, distributor, wholesaler or the producer itself.
2. Collect companies from directories, trade fair exhibitor lists and your government's trade representatives abroad, and check each company's own site to see whether it really handles products like yours.
3. Find the right person at the company and a working email address, then write a short, personal message.

Where Alvara AI fits

Alvara AI is a tool for manufacturers and exporters that finds buyers abroad: you enter your website address, it reads what you sell and lists matching overseas companies with their decision maker and a verified email. For each buyer with a contact person it also writes an email draft; you send the draft yourself from your own email, and Alvara AI does not send email on its own.