CEIC marks 30th anniversary by establishing position as leading provider of emerging market alternative data

This month marks the 30^th anniversary of CEIC, the leading provider of macroeconomic data and insight for the world’s fastest growing economies. Originally a Hong Kong-based enterprise providing hard-to-get data for economists hungry for information on China, CEIC has since expanded its coverage to over 200 countries worldwide.

CEIC forged its reputation as a must-have resource through its scrupulous selection of the very best data sources and an understanding of what data is important to users. The business has invested continuously in a network of local experts to identify the data our clients need. We have also developed a rigorous sense checking and standardisation process so that the data we finally present has the complete trust of our users. This focus on curation rather than simple aggregation has seen CEIC establish itself as the key input for economic models in organisations all over the world.

We are continuing to break new ground through the procurement of new types of data to provide better and faster insight for clients on economic developments. The importance of alternative and high frequency data in understanding economies was highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasingly our users are combining traditional and alternative data sources to gain immediate insight into topical issues such as the prospect of stagflation in major economies, the impact of China’s COVID policy on domestic and global growth and the effect of climate change on economic stability. This need for speed has led to the business investing heavily in the development of new datasets. Some examples of the topics and types of data we cover are:

• Trade data – high frequency stats on imports and exports
• Mobility trends – air traffic and public transport
• Consumption and production – credit card transactions, commodity production
• Labour market – job postings and vacancies, benefit claims
• Supply chain – container and port data and freight transport
• Prices – real time energy and food prices
• Environment – air quality and carbon emissions
• Real estate – property prices and transactions, mortgage applications

Such has been the expansion in new data that CEIC is now considered the leading emerging market provider of both traditional and alternative data for economists.

Commenting on the addition of non-traditional datasets, Steve Pulley, CEO, said: “The information needs around emerging markets have evolved dramatically in the 30 years of CEIC’s existence and we have always been ahead of the game in delivering the data that matters most to our customers. Our continued investment in alternative and high frequency datasets reflects the growing importance of this type of data to economists and investment professionals. We are excited to extend our leadership position, helping our clients understand the rapidly changing dynamics in emerging markets.”

Members of CEIC’s User Council also commented on the increasing importance of alternative and high frequency data:

“In the future, macroeconomic models will rely more heavily on micro high frequency and alternative data to get a more accurate picture.” Stephen Mathai-Davis, CFA, Founder & CEO, Q.ai

“High frequency data is particularly valuable when there is instability in the market” Kumagai Shotaro, Senior Economist, Japan Research Institute

“It is difficult to track consumption patterns using traditional data so alternative data sources are critical for my work.” Seng Wun, Economist, CIMB Private Banking

About CEIC

Since 1992, CEIC has been the macroeconomic database of choice for economists, investment professionals, academics, and government officials. Traditional and alternative datasets are licensed and curated from reliable sources and passed through a stringent quality assurance process to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. Insight and interpretation of the data is also provided by CEIC experts to provide context and additional value for users.