403 error in Comtrade_MetaData.r

[ellisp]

I see this error

Error in h(simpleError(msg, call)) : 
  error in evaluating the argument 'content' in selecting a method for function 'fromJSON': cannot open the connection
In addition: Warning message:
Failed to open 'https://comtradeapi.un.org/data/v1/getMetadata/C/M/HS': The requested URL returned error: 403 

when I run integrate.r. Is this because I need my own API key and to do something to register it? I have uncommented the line Sys.setenv('COMTRADE_PRIMARY' = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx') but this doesn't help. I read the guidance on getting an API key but don't want to bother with this if it is something else that is the problem and I should be able to get your API key to work

[JamesHoganNZ]

What I was trying to do with the metadata component is isolate the domestic price changes from the foreign currency changes.

Comtrade, by default, returns the value of trade converted to the US dollar. Changes in the derived price between periods is a mix of changes in the domestic price of the good, together with changes in the currency of the trade relative to the US dollar. I was trying to isolate each source of change so that changes in demand/supply, effecting the domestic value of the trade, was separated out from the currency changes.

Through separately extracting the currency conversion factors, I'm able to remove the effect of exchange changes in the average price:

Comtrade_Fish_Data$Domestic_Currency_FOBValue <- Comtrade_Fish_Data$fobvalue / Comtrade_Fish_Data$Export_Conversion_Factor

Comtrade_Fish_Data$Domestic_Currency_CIFValue <- Comtrade_Fish_Data$cifvalue / Comtrade_Fish_Data$Export_Conversion_Factor

Comtrade_Fish_Data$Domestic_Currency_PrimaryValue<-Comtrade_Fish_Data$primary_value / Comtrade_Fish_Data$Export_Conversion_Factor

The metadata uses Curl - that could be why its failing.

Were you able to get it working in the end?