A record says what happened. Intelligence says what is changing.
One customs declaration is a fact. Ten thousand of them, read in sequence, are a direction: which markets are absorbing more of your category, which buyers have just changed supplier, where the price band is drifting. Trade intelligence is that second reading — the layer above the records, built from the same 43 directly licensed customs feeds and 184 mirror-derived countries, so every trend can still be opened up and traced back to the declarations underneath it.
Four movements worth more than any market-size chart.
Market sizing tells you where trade already is, which is usually where the competition already is too. These four read the derivative instead: what is moving, in which direction, and how recently.
Demand direction
Shipment counts and declared volumes for your HS code, quarter over quarter, per market. Not "this market is large" — which is a brochure claim — but "this market took 30% more of your category this quarter than last, and the one next door did not."
Supplier displacement
When a buyer’s records show a new supplier name appearing and the incumbent fading, a relationship is being rewritten. Those are the weeks in which an approach lands. A quarter later the new contract is signed and you are early for the next cycle instead.
Price drift
Per-unit declared value across a lane, tracked over time rather than sampled once. A median sliding down for three quarters is a market repricing itself, and it decides whether your next quote is competitive or academic.
Entry timing
New importers appearing in a category, first-time lanes opening, seasonality that repeats on a real calendar. Where a market is in its cycle is usually a better predictor of your first order than how big that market is.
Every trend must open back into the records that made it.
Most “trade intelligence” is a chart you are asked to trust. Ours is a chart you are invited to take apart: click the quarter, get the shipments; click a shipment, get the buyer, the supplier, the port, the quantity and the declared value. An insight that cannot be opened is an opinion with a gradient behind it.
- Every aggregate resolves to the named declarations it was computed from.
- Mirror-derived coverage is labeled inside the analysis, never blended in silently.
- Each surface carries its own refresh date, so you know the vintage of a trend, not just its shape.
Who reads it, and for what
Export strategy. Choosing the next two markets to enter, and the quarter to enter them in.
Sales leadership. Knowing which accounts are in play this month because their supplier mix just moved.
Pricing and sourcing.Watching a lane’s declared price band before committing a season’s production to it.
Trade intelligence, asked and answered.
What is trade intelligence?
Trade intelligence is the analysis layer built on top of shipment-level customs data: instead of reading individual declarations, you read what thousands of them say together over time — demand direction per market, supplier displacement inside named accounts, per-unit price drift along a lane, and the timing of new entrants. It turns a record of what happened into a reading of what is changing.
How is it different from customs shipment data?
Customs shipment data is the raw material: one row per declaration, with the importer, supplier, HS code, port, date, quantity and declared value. Trade intelligence is what you get when those rows are aggregated across time and compared — trends, shares, shifts. The records answer "what was this shipment?"; the intelligence answers "which way is this market moving?"
Is this the same as market research reports?
No. A research report is a periodic document written by an analyst about a market. Trade intelligence here is computed from customs declarations that refresh weekly in most markets, is specific to your HS code and your target countries, and can be opened up to the underlying named shipments. One is a narrative; the other is evidence you can interrogate.
Which signals actually predict an opportunity?
In practice the strongest ones are behavioural rather than statistical: a buyer adding a supplier they have not used before, a buyer switching away from an incumbent, and a lane whose shipment cadence steps up. Those are moments when a relationship is genuinely in motion. Absolute market size, by contrast, mostly tells you where competition already is.
What data sits underneath the analysis?
The same foundation as the rest of the platform: 43 directly licensed national customs feeds, with named buyers and suppliers in 38 of them, plus 184 additional countries reconstructed through mirror derivation from partner countries’ export declarations. Mirror-derived coverage stays labeled inside the analysis rather than being blended in silently.
Can I see this on my own category before paying?
Yes. On a 30-minute live demo we run your HS code and target markets and read the movement on screen, including the shipments behind any trend you want to open. Platform access is published openly at $1,100 for 6 months or $1,800 for 12 months; a Trade Desk specialist who works the data for you is $299/month.
See what your buyers are buying.Then decide.
Everything we show you comes from official customs filings — records, not claims. 30 minutes. Your shipment. Your HS code. Real platform. If you don’t see something new about your market by the end of the call, we walk away. No follow-ups.