africaAPI

Guides

Trade

Use the dedicated trade domain for overview, partner, product, and flow queries, with aggregate trade metrics also available through the shared data endpoints.

Trade Domain In Africa API

Africa API now has a dedicated trade surface for country-level trade analysis.

Current trade data comes from two layers:

  • aggregate trade indicators from world_bank_wdi
  • granular partner/product trade flows from un_comtrade

The granular un_comtrade source currently stores:

  • bilateral all-commodity partner totals
  • world-level HS chapter product composition

Use:

  • GET /v1/trade/overview/{country_code}
  • GET /v1/trade/flows
  • GET /v1/trade/partners
  • GET /v1/trade/products

The existing shared observation layer still exposes trade aggregates through:

Use:

  • GET /v1/indicators?category=economy
  • GET /v1/data?metric_key=trade_balance_usd
  • GET /v1/data?metric_key=exports_goods_services_usd
  • GET /v1/countries/{country_code}/profile

Country profiles now embed a compact trade section with:

  • latest_snapshot
  • granular_latest_year
  • top export/import partners
  • top export/import products

Useful Metrics

  • exports_goods_services_usd
  • imports_goods_services_usd
  • exports_goods_services_pct_gdp
  • imports_goods_services_pct_gdp
  • trade_balance_usd
  • current_account_balance_pct_gdp

Overview Example

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/trade/overview/ng?start_year=2020&end_year=2024&top_limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

The overview response now includes:

  • yearly aggregate series
  • latest_snapshot
  • granular_latest_year
  • granular_years
  • top_export_partners
  • top_import_partners
  • top_export_products
  • top_import_products

That makes /v1/trade/overview/{country_code} the best first call for building a country trade panel.

Partner Query Example

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/trade/partners?reporter_country_code=ng&flow_type=export&year=2024&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

Product Query Example

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/trade/products?reporter_country_code=ng&flow_type=import&start_year=2020&end_year=2024&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

Example Queries

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?country_codes=ng,ke,za&metric_key=trade_balance_usd&year=2024" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?country_code=eg&metric_key=exports_goods_services_pct_gdp&start_year=2018&end_year=2024" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

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