How current is the data?

What each feed's update cycle is, and how to keep the report as fresh as possible.

DashboardAboutHow it worksData sources

The report is a blend: a structural backbone from official trade statistics that lags about a year, with live signals layered on top. Knowing which part is which is the key to reading it well.

Update cycle of every feed

SourceTypical lagCadenceNotes
UN Comtrade — trade flows ~1 year Annual Official customs data; countries report on a delay. The newest complete year is the limiting factor for the whole report.
World Bank WITS — tariffs Months to a year Annual Applied duty rates change slowly; a year-old figure is usually still accurate.
GDELT — disruption news ~15 minutes Continuous Effectively live. The 7-day window can be widened in the code.
IMF PortWatch — port disruption ~1 day Daily Near-live maritime activity.
US EIA — feedstock prices 1–7 days Daily / weekly Henry Hub gas and WTI crude update most business days.
NOAA / NWS — weather Minutes Live Active weather alerts, refreshed continuously.
ECB / Frankfurter — FX rates 1 day Daily Official ECB reference rates, published each working day.
FRED — demand & logistics 1–2 months Monthly Industrial-production and supply-chain indices are monthly by nature.
Your uploaded CSV As fresh as you make it On demand Re-upload whenever your stock or shipment dates change.
The honest limitation.

Trade flows, the backbone of the country scores, are about a year old because that is how fast official customs data is published worldwide. No tool — free or paid — gets official annual trade data faster. This is why the tool is strongest as a structural exposure view and weaker as a what-changed-this-week view.

How to make it as up to date as possible

1. Pick the newest trade year. The "Trade data year" box on the dashboard defaults to the most recent complete year. As newer years are published, type the new year and click Apply. If a year returns gaps, some countries simply haven't reported yet — step back one year.
2. Use monthly trade data instead of annual. UN Comtrade also publishes monthly figures, which lag ~2–3 months instead of a year. This needs a free Comtrade API key and a small code change (switch the endpoint from /C/A/HS to /C/M/HS and pass a month-period). It is the single biggest freshness upgrade available.
3. Add the two free API keys. Without EIA_API_KEY and FRED_API_KEY, the feedstock and macro panels show nothing. Adding them (free, in the Worker's Settings) switches on two live-updating data layers.
4. Let the scheduled refresh run. The Worker re-fetches every source once a day automatically. Clicking "Refresh all sources" on the dashboard forces an immediate update.
5. Keep your uploaded CSV current. Your own stock levels and shipment dates are only as fresh as your last upload. Re-upload whenever they change — this is the part you fully control.
6. Widen the news window. The disruption monitor looks back 7 days by default. The window is a single value in the code and can be shortened for a tighter, more current view.

What stays out of date no matter what

The structural trade picture will always trail real time by months. Closing that gap entirely needs paid, near-real-time trade intelligence — the same Tier-2 paid feeds (pricing, vessel tracking) the build deliberately leaves out. For a free tool, the steps above get you as current as the data itself allows.