Panjiva partnership opens doors for global trade professionals to access Chinese import-export data

Panjiva, an online search engine with detailed information on global suppliers and manufacturers, recently announced that through a partnership with Export to China (ETCN) it is the first company to make Chinese trade data accessible in searchable company profiles.

ETCN is a Chinese information, consulting, and commercial platform helping international enterprises with China import-export trade.

Panjiva said it now holds rights to publish ETCN data in this searchable format, in turn providing its customers with insight into Chinese-based suppliers and customers. And it explained that this agreement provides its customers with various facets of Chinese trade data with information on active companies and potential trade partners in 17 industries, including textiles and apparel, furniture, auto and auto parts, and pharmaceuticals. Panjiva can also now provide customers with information and data on:
-shipments to and from not only the U.S., but also every country around the world;
-breakdown of the dollar value of goods shipped to each country;
-mode of transport, such as vessel or air; and
-enterprise nature, including state-owned, private and foreign-invested

Data provided by ETCN for Panjiva is based on Chinese government data that is made available to ETCN.

“What we have now is trade data describing import and export activities for about 200,000 companies in China,” said Panjiva CEO Josh Green in an interview. “It cuts across a wide variety of product categories from apparel to hardware to furniture, toys, and auto parts and others. It is part of a broad spectrum.”

What makes this partnership particularly interesting, Green said, is that for the first time it is going to put a set of companies on to the radar of global trade professionals and describe these companies based on their export activity out of China regardless of where their goods are bound for.

And Panjiva is now going to be able to provide a more complete view of the trade activity of Chinese companies.

“The U.S. import data we have used for a long time tells you a lot about what companies in China are doing as well as in the rest of the world,” said Green. “And now with this Chinese trade data we can provide a comprehensive view of what these companies are doing globally in terms of what products they are specializing in across their global customer base and what regions of the world they are selling goods to and helps to provide a better sense of how important or unimportant it may be to that company.”

Green added this information will be particularly beneficial to sourcing and procurement professionals as they will get access to a whole new set of companies and have a greater picture of companies they are talking to. And for those selling goods and services will find value in that they will have a clearer sense of what companies they should be targeting.

When asked how to assess China’s economy at a time when the global economic outlook is muted to a degree, Green said that it is a bit of a mixed bag.

“This has to do with the indicators we are seeing,” he said. “It does not feel like we are facing imminent collapse or anything like that, and we don’t see significant downside risks in the market. But we don’t think global trade is taking off any time soon either and modest growth is what it feels like in terms of the trajectory we are on. China has its hands full in terms of managing an economy that is changing so rapidly. More specifically to trade there was talk of China losing its dominance in manufacturing and our customers have talked of a desire of moving beyond China due to rising wages and some say the cost advantage is not as strong as it used. That is a real dynamic and lots of folks have acted on a desire to diversify beyond China. Over last decade of so, the Chinese manufacturing base developed a capabilities advantage that is proving to be durable and as a result people are finding it harder than they thought to go elsewhere as the capabilities they have come to rely on in China’s manufacturing base are not there in other countries and appears to be going strong and looks like it will continue for some time.”