For each of its statistical products, the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) embraces a standardized methodology that is suitable for that product. In doing so, GASTAT depends on the Manual of Statistical Procedures, which goes in line with the internationally approved procedures. Each of GASTAT’s statistical products goes through eight major stages, in addition to a ninth stage

having to do with the comprehensive “management”, as illustrated in the following figure, and the subsequent explanation 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first three stages (scope, design and organization) are cooperative ones; conducted by GASTAT jointly with the developmental bodies benefiting from its data. Likewise, the fourth stage (data collection) is a cooperative stage conducted by the Authority jointly with the statistical population (households and establishments) to obtain the data and information. The following three stages (disaggregation, revision and publication) are purely statistical ones, undertaken by the Authority. Then, the eighth stage (evaluation) is conducted jointly with clients. ‘Management’ is an organizational/ managerial stage running throughout all previous stages. Those stages have been applied in the Imports Statistics Bulletin as follows:

Deemed to be the kick-off stage for producing (Imports Statistics). It is the first collaborative stage between GASTAT and its government partners related to Saudi Arabia’s imports of other countries commodities within a year represented in (Saudi Customs as an official source of data, and Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority as primary users of such statistics).  The Department of National Accounts Statistics at GASTAT would also benefit from the results of imports statistics.  GASTAT has held meetings and workshops with government entities in order to meet their needs as data users as well as to consider their observations. This would help in achieving the following objectives:  

• Supporting decision and policy makers, reserachers, and those who are concerned with updated and comprehensive statistics and indicators that are related to imports. 

• Following up with the changes in the movement of imports in Saudi Arabia and other great countries.

• Identifying key imported commodities from each country. 

• Developing important economic indicators for the components of national accounts and payment balance. 

• Contributing in creating a commercial policy to protect and encourage local commodities and industries compared with the competing imported ones. 

Moreover, the published statistics would contribute in fulfilling the requirements of Saudi Vision 2030. In addition to  other regional  needs, including GCC Statistical Center as well as Arab League. Regardinginternational level needs, such statistics     will also comply with the requirements of UN, WTO, FAO, and other organizations concerned with export and import statistics. 

During this stage, a complete design for the statistical product in addition to the tools and methods of data collection are set forth. Clients are engaged in all these processes to consider their feedback, so that the product would live up to their expectations.

The most important outcomes of this stage are: 

Statistics of Saudi Arabia imports of other countries‘ commodities are based on the imports data of other governmental entities as follows: 

• Data collected from Saudi Customs: which is a major source of commodity imports data.

GASTAT will be provided with this data to caculate its indicators and release them within the Imports Statistics Bulletin

 

 

2.1 Imports: According to the foreign trade system, it is all commodities and goods imported to the Kingdom to cover local needs, and is subject to all customs procedures followed to complete the import of a commodity.

2.2 Units of measurements: The amount of any commodity is expressed in terms of net weight. Yet, other commodities are shown in unit numbers as necessary, such as (sheep, cars and watches),  in addition to their weights in kilograms. The value of these commodities is in Saudi Riyals.

2.3 Entry port: The port in which the goods enter for customs clearance. 

2.4 Means of transport: It indicates the way of transport: by air, sea or land

2.5 Country of origin: It is the country where the agricultural crops and animal products are produced, or the country where the raw materials are extracted.

2.6 Statistical Indicator: It is the substitution of the commodity description by digital codes to be classified in statistical formats prepared for this purpose and then in statistical tables to be used for all statistical purposes. The statistical indicator used in the foreign trade statistics is the Harmonized System )H.S.( used in commodity classification.

2.7 Net weight: It means the total weight (in KG) of the commodity after excluding the wrapping and packing weight. For publishing purposes, net weight was measured in tons or thousand tons for some tables

2.8 Value of Imports  (C.I.F): The value of imports is calculated on C.I.F. basis. The value represents the cost, insurance, freight and other costs incurred until delivery of goods to the port of entry, apart from the customs duties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classification is identified as an organized group of related categories, which are used to collect data according to similarity. Classification is the base for data collection and dissemination in various statistical fields, such as (economic activity, products, expenses, occupations or health…. etc.). Classifying data and information helps to put them in meaningful categories to produce useful statistics. In fact, data collection requires an accurate organization based on their common features to create reliable and comparable statistics. On the other hand, Imports Statistics are based on the international standards of data collection and classification and rely on the following classifications: 

WCO’s Commodity Description and Coding System (H.S.2017), which is a table describing and classifying commodities. The table includes subheadings, their numerical codes, sections and chapters, in accordance with the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System signed in Brussels.

The following table shows the first two digits in the Commodity Description and Coding System (H.S.2017), which consists of eight digits: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imports statistics cover the data of all commodities imported to Saudi Arabia through custom outlets over one calender year. These commodities have gone through legal procedures, and are imported to meet the lcal needs. Therefore, these statistics does not include some types of data such as data of goods on transit, banknotes and the like. 

This is the last stage of preparation that precedes the process of collecting data. The procedures for the preparation of this bulletin have been prepared in this stage and will begin from the next stage "Collection “and end with the "Evaluation stage", as well as the organization and collection of these procedures and determining the appropriate sequence to reach a methodology that would achieve the objectives of Imports Statistics Bulletin. At this stage, the procedures that were carried out in preparation for the previous release of the bulletin were reviewed in order to develop the work procedures in this release. These procedures were also described and documented to facilitate updates in future cycles.

 The statistical work procedures were tested to ensure that they meet the requirements of preparing the Imports Statistics Bulletin in its final form, then they were adopted, and a roadmap for implementation was set.

GASTAT has coordinated with the Saudi Customs Authority to obtain data related to the imports statistics, which include data of Saudi Arabia imports of other countries’ commodities. However, data are stored on GASTAT’s databases; they are also revised according to the scientific statistical methodology as well as the recognized standards in coordination with the source of data. 

Raw data of Imports Statistics Bulletin were disaggregated based on classification and coding inputs that were created while collecting the data, which were classified according to WCO harmonized system of commodity classification (H.S.2017).

Data were presented in suitable tables to facilitate their summarization and results extraction, also to ease the process of their comparison with other data. 

Number of steps were made in this stage, most importantly:

To ensure quality and accuracy of  data, , all the data are reviewed and matched to check their correctness and accuracy in a way that fits the nature of such data .Data of the current survey are matched with the data of the previous survey to  ensure their validity and logicality before processing, extracting, and reviewing the results in the next stages of data disaggregation.    

Data shall be kept confidential at GASTAT and shall be used for statistical purposes only. Collected statistical tables for a number of variables related to imports are the data to be published. 

After revising and validating the register-based data during the fourth stage, all outputs were stored and uploaded to the database after being calculated by GASTAT to be processed by specialists in foreign trade statistics through modern technologies and software designed for this purpose. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the Royal Decree No. 23 dated 07-12-1397, data must always be kept confidential, and must be used by GASTAT only for statistical purposes. Therefore, the data are protected in the data servers of the Authority.

During this stage, GASTAT has coordinated, organized, and revised the bulletin data. Then, publishing tables and charts of data and indicators, metadata, and methodology were all prepared and processed to be published in  both languages English and Arabic.

The publication date of the bulletin is already set up by GASTAT on its official website at the beginning of the Calendar Year. During this period, the Authority is preparing the media kits to announce the date of releasing the bulletin through media, in addition to its various platforms in social networking sites. The bulletin will be published firstly on GASTAT’s official website in different formats, such as Excel format to be easily reached for all clients and those who are interested in  imports statistics.It will be uploaded on the website’s statistics library as well. 

 

GASTAT believed in the importance of communication with the clients, therefore, once the bulletin is released, GASTAT will communicate with the clients and provide them with the bulletin. GASTAT will receive the questions and enquiries about the bulletin and its results through its various channels. Requests and enquiries are received through 

• GASTAT official website www.stats.gov.sa 

• GASTAT official e-mail info@stats.gov.sa 

• Client support’s email cs@stats.gov.sa 

• Visiting GASTAT head office in Riyadh or in one of its branches in Saudi Arabia 

• Official letters

• Statistical  helpline (920020081)

GASTAT Documents and Archives Center has electronically stored and archived this bulletin, so that it can be referred to at any time if needed. 

When the bulletin is released and after it reached all clients, GASTAT will contact with them to assess the whole statistical process to achieve constant improvement in order to obtain high quality data. The improvements may include methodologies, operations, systems, skill of statistical researchers, and statistical work framework; this procedure is made in partnership with data users as well as GASTAT’s clients through a number of steps:

First: Collecting measurable evaluation   inputs

The most important comments and notes are collected and documented from their sources in different stages  such as the comments and notes written by specialists responsible for reviewing, auditing, and analyzing data collected from the  administrative records, , comments and notes collected and documented by data users after publishing the Bulletin, social media comments,  and clients’ feedback sent to the Authority through its main channels. 

It is done by analyzing the collected evaluation inputs, and comparing the results of this analysis with the ones predicted previously. Therefore, a number of possible improvements and solutions are identified and discussed with specialists, experts, and concerned partners. During this step, clients' performances and satisfaction levels of using the results of Imports Statistics Bulletin are measured. Based on that, suggested recommendations to obtain high quality data for future bulletins will be considered.  

Ninth stage: Management

It is a comprehensive stage that is required to carry out each stage of Imports Statistics Bulletin.

During this stage, the  plan was set , which includes the feasibility study, risk management, financing methods, in addition to expenditure mechanisms. The plan also covered the  development of performance indicators, quality criteria, and manpower map required for production. Through this plan, the implementation process of the tasks assigned to different departments at each stage will be followed up and reported to ensure that GASTAT meets its clients’ requirements.