The record of the transaction usually includes a firm identifier (tax registration number) of the trading German firm. 4 Using this identifier information at the transaction level can be aggregated at the level of the trading firm. These data
show which firm trades how much of which good with firms from which country in a given month. Products are distinguished according to very detailed classifications. In the data used for this paper, the Harmonized System at 6-digit level (HS6) is used as the product classification system.