# /comtrade/trades/search

`POST /api/comtrade/trades/search`

Price: 5 credits

Search UN Comtrade international trade records by reporter, partner, commodity, flow and period

## How to use it

Search UN Comtrade international trade statistics — import/export values and quantities between countries broken down by reporter area, partner area, commodity code and time period. Filter by reporter_code and partner_code (numeric area codes, look them up via the reporters/partners endpoints), cmd_code (commodity code, TOTAL for all goods), flow_code (M=import, X=export), classification (HS/SITC/BEC) and period (year or year-month). Each record carries trade values (primary, CIF, FOB), net/gross weight, quantity with its unit, and descriptive labels for every code.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `type_code` (string) — Trade type — goods (C) or services (S) (default: "C"; one of: "C", "S")
- `freq_code` (string) — Frequency — annual (A) or monthly (M) (default: "A"; one of: "A", "M")
- `classification` (string) — Commodity/service classification scheme (default: "HS"; one of: "HS", "H0", "H1", "H2", "H3", "H4", "H5", "H6", "SITC", "S1", "S2", "S3", "S4", "ST", "BEC", "B4", "B5", "EB", "EB02", "EB10", "EB10S")
- `reporter_code` (string, nullable) — Reporter area code(s), comma-separated (M49/UN numeric). Look up via the reporters endpoint (examples: "842", "842,156")
- `partner_code` (string, nullable) — Partner area code(s), comma-separated. 0 = World. Use the partners endpoint to look up codes (examples: "156", "0")
- `partner2_code` (string, nullable) — Second partner area code(s) for re-export/re-import breakdown, comma-separated
- `cmd_code` (string, nullable) — Commodity code(s), comma-separated. TOTAL = all commodities; AG2/AG4/AG6 = aggregation levels (examples: "TOTAL", "01,02")
- `flow_code` (string, nullable) — Trade flow direction — import (M), export (X), re-export (RX), etc. (one of: "M", "X", "DX", "FM", "MIP", "MOP", "RM", "RX", "XIP", "XOP")
- `customs_code` (string, nullable) — Customs procedure code(s), comma-separated. C00 = TOTAL customs procedures (examples: "C00")
- `mot_code` (string, nullable) — Mode of transport code(s), comma-separated. 0 = TOTAL modes of transport (examples: "3200", "0")
- `period` (string, nullable) — Period(s), comma-separated. Year (YYYY) for annual, year-month (YYYYMM) for monthly (examples: "2022", "2020,2021,2022", "202201")
- `count` (integer, required) — Number of trade records to return (min: 1; max: 500)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "ComtradeTrade")
- `type_code` (string, required)
- `freq_code` (string, required)
- `period` (string, required)
- `ref_year` (integer, nullable)
- `ref_month` (integer, nullable)
- `reporter_code` (integer, nullable)
- `reporter_iso` (string, nullable)
- `reporter_desc` (string, nullable)
- `flow_code` (string, nullable)
- `flow_desc` (string, nullable)
- `partner_code` (integer, nullable)
- `partner_iso` (string, nullable)
- `partner_desc` (string, nullable)
- `partner2_code` (integer, nullable)
- `partner2_iso` (string, nullable)
- `partner2_desc` (string, nullable)
- `classification_code` (string, nullable)
- `classification_search_code` (string, nullable)
- `is_original_classification` (boolean, nullable)
- `cmd_code` (string, nullable)
- `cmd_desc` (string, nullable)
- `aggr_level` (integer, nullable)
- `is_leaf` (boolean, nullable)
- `customs_code` (string, nullable)
- `customs_desc` (string, nullable)
- `mos_code` (string, nullable)
- `mot_code` (integer, nullable)
- `mot_desc` (string, nullable)
- `qty_unit_code` (integer, nullable)
- `qty_unit_abbr` (string, nullable)
- `qty` (number, nullable)
- `is_qty_estimated` (boolean, nullable)
- `alt_qty_unit_code` (integer, nullable)
- `alt_qty_unit_abbr` (string, nullable)
- `alt_qty` (number, nullable)
- `is_alt_qty_estimated` (boolean, nullable)
- `net_wgt` (number, nullable)
- `is_net_wgt_estimated` (boolean, nullable)
- `gross_wgt` (number, nullable)
- `is_gross_wgt_estimated` (boolean, nullable)
- `cif_value` (number, nullable)
- `fob_value` (number, nullable)
- `primary_value` (number, nullable)
- `legacy_estimation_flag` (integer, nullable)
- `is_reported` (boolean, nullable)
- `is_aggregate` (boolean, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The entity was not found, or a precondition failed

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.