(from ChineseShipping.com.cn)  " For the purpose of timely reflecting frequent and drastic fluctuation of freight rates of China’s coastal coal transport market, and implementing the instructions of the State Council in the Opinions on Building “Two Centers” in Shanghai, “…to enrich shipping finance product lines, speed up development of shipping freight index derivatives and create favorable conditions for Chinese shipping enterprises to control transport risks…”, Shanghai Shipping Exchange has, on the basis of existing system of China (Coastal) Bulk Freight Index (CBFI), developed the China (Coastal) Bulk Coal Freight Index (CBCFI) and will publicize the composite index and spot rates of different routes/types of vessels of coastal coal service market every day. The trial run starts on Sept. 1st 2011. The methodology of compiling and publicizing freight indices is:

1．Base Period :  
     CBCFI takes Sept. 1st 2011 as the base period and the base index is 1,000 points.

2．Sample Routes and Types of Vessel:   
     CBCFI includes 9 routes, namely Qinhuangdao—Guangzhou (50,000-60,000DWT), Qinhuangdao—Fuzhou (30,000-40,000DWT), Qinhuangdao—Ningbo (15,000-20,000DWT), Qinhuangdao—
     Shanghai (40,000-50,000DWT), Qinhuangdao—Zhangjiagang (20,000-30,000DWT), Tianjin—Shanghai (20,000-30,000DWT), Tianjin—Zhenjiang (10,000-15,000DWT), Huanghua—Shanghai
     (30,000-40,000DWT) and Jintang/Caofeidian—Ningbo (40,000-50,000DWT).

3．Collection of Freight Information:
      The CBCFI freight information is provided by the China (Coastal) Bulk Freight Index Panel every day. See the introduction of CBFI for the list of panelists.

4． Means of Publication :
      Shanghai Shipping Exchange publicizes CBCFI at the official website www.chineseshipping.com.cn at 15:00 (Beijing Time) of each date of index publication. Users may log on to the websites of
      Shanghai Shipping Exchange for the latest information.  The detailed dates of index publication of CBCFI will be announced by Shanghai Shipping Exchange. When necessary and in reasonable cases,
      Shanghai Shipping Exchange may cancel or postpone publication of indices. &"

(from CPB Memorandum) "The CPB world trade database contains foreign trade value series of 23 OECD countries and around 60 emerging economies.
Those 60 emerging economies cover approximately 90% of foreign trade of all emerging economies. With the almost 85 countries in the database, coverage of total world trade value is around 97%.

The two primary sources used for the value series concerning imports and exports are:
1. OECD Main Economic Indicators (MEI)
2. IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS)

These two sources contain data provided by national statistical offices and customs offices. MEI trade series are already seasonally adjusted. The international organisations have done for some of the series the seasonal adjustment and the switch from local currency in US dollars. Almost all MEI trade series are calendar-adjusted.9 All IFS trade series are not seasonally adjusted and not calendar-adjusted. IFS trade series used are seasonally adjusted by us. However, calendar adjustments are not made.

 These primary sources are complemented with data directly taken from national sources. Moreover, if the two primary sources do not cover the most recent data releases, the series are updated using the information available on the internet-sites of national statistical offices and central banks, the national summary data pages of the IMF’s Dissemination Standard Bulletin Board (DSBB) or through Thomson/Datastream (based on releases of national statistical offices and of central banks).
 \\
For recent months, information of some of the smaller countries may not be available. If so, value growth of such a country is set equal to that of its own region calculated on the available country information. Data series for the OPEC countries in particular are either missing completely or not very up to date in the IFS. Estimation of missing OPEC trade data is carried out in a special way. Concerning import values, use is made of the information on exports of OECD countries to OPEC countries as available in the OECD Monthly Statistics of International Trade or directly from national sources. This is supplemented with estimates on exports of non-OECD countries to OPEC. Concerning export values of OPEC countries, use is made of volume and price information available in the monthly Oil Market Report of the International Energy Agency.

The data series of the emerging economies are aggregated into series for 4 regions by adding up value series in US dollars. The following regions are distinguished: 1. OPEC 2. Asian newly industrialised countries (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea) 3. Transition countries (central and eastern European countries including Turkey and including countries that were part of the Soviet Union) 4. Other emerging countries..."

" - World trade volume series : Comparison with the OECD Main Economic Indicators:
There are five key differences between the world trade series of the MEI and the CPB:
1. The CPB series are more up to date. For instance in December 2004, the MEI series ends in the second quarter and the CPB series in October. The additional information of up to four months is in our view crucial in monitoring world trade and the world economy.
2. The MEI series is for non-OECD countries for the most recent quarters largely based on projections, while the CPB series is based on published data for key non-OECD countries covering 75 to 80% of foreign trade of this group of countries.
3. The MEI only provides a disaggregation in OECD and non-OECD trade series, while the CPB trade database provides a much richer disaggregation.
4. The MEI series concerns goods and services based on national accounts data; the CPB series concerns goods and is mainly based on international trade statistics.
5. The MEI series are not accompanied by a series on world trade prices; the CPB world trade database provides both series on world trade volume and world trade prices as well as world trade values.

Despite these differences, the two series are very similar (see Figure 3.1, Figure 3.2 and Table 3.1 here ). The correlation between the annual growth rates is 0.98, while the difference between the growth rates in the years 1992-2003 is only 0.1%-point per year. For most recent quarters, world trade has been increasing somewhat stronger according to the CPB. However, this difference may diminish when projections for non-OECD countries are replaced by actual data in the MEI series..."

" - World trade volume series : Comparison with the OECD Economic Outlook
Historical data (and projections) on world trade are also presented in the OECD Economic Outlook. As in the OECD Main Economic Indicators, it concerns the world trade in goods and services based on national accounts statistics. Nevertheless, there are clear differences between the two series; the most likely reason is different underlying series for non-OECD regions. The differences between the Outlook series and the CPB series are somewhat bigger than between the MEI and CPB series (see Figure 3.3 and Table 3.2 here)..."

" - World trade volume series : Comparison with the IMF World Economic Outlook
 Historical data (and projections) on world trade in goods are also presented in the IMF World Economic Outlook. No information is provided on the underlying statistics. However, as data on world trade in goods and services is also provided, the series is probably based on national accounts statistics. Concerning the world trade in goods, the series of the CPB and the IMF are quite similar
(see Figure 3.4 and Table 3.3 here)... "

" - World trade volume series : Comparison with the WTO world trade database
 Historical data on world total merchandise export and import volumes are also available in the WTO world trade database and in the annual WTO publication International Trade Statistics. The series are based on a range of different international and national sources. Aggregation of the indices to obtain a world total is a two tier process. First, export and import unit values from national and international sources are completed with WTO Secretariat estimates for missing data. They are then aggregated to obtain regional totals. The volume index for each region is obtained by dividing the respective trade value index for each region by the corresponding regional unit value index. Second, to obtain the total world merchandise volume index, regional unit value indices are aggregated and the world trade value is deflated by the world unit value index. Throughout the aggregation process trade values of the previous year are used.
The WTO series are quite different from the series from the CPB, OECD MEI, OECD EO and IMF WEO (see Figure 3.6, Table 3.5 and Annex Table A.1). Main reason is probably the use of unit value series instead of proper price series..."

" - Final remarks
The CPB world trade series provide more up-to-date information than other available series, making it clearly more useful in assessing the current economic situation (nowcasting). With good information on the current economic situation essential for forecasting, this up-to-date information enhances the accuracy of the CPB forecasts of the world economy and thus for the Dutch economy. The CPB series contains up to four months more recent information than the world trade series presented in the OECD Main Economic Indicators (MEI). Moreover, the most recent data are more based on actual data for the non-OECD countries and less on projections and assumptions. A third essential advantage of the CPB world trade database above the MEI is that it contains the underlying series, allowing more detailed analysis of world trade and the calculation of export market growth. A fourth advantage is that the CPB world trade volume series is accompanied by a world trade price series. In the future, the CPB trade database may be elaborated by introducing foreign trade prices for more individual non-OECD countries, reducing the role of constructed prices. Moreover, it is considered to shift to a chain-link approach in the construction of trade prices on non-OECD regions. "/strong>