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| Global Trade Trends and Statistics | ||
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Published 20030509 |
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) just published its global trade
report which states that worldwide trade grew by 2.5 percent in
2002, up from a 1 percent decline in 2001. The report also
notes that trade growth for 2003 is uncertain and not too
encouraging for the following reasons: a sluggishness world
economy, the conflict in Iraq and the Middle East, and the
possibility of the continuing spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS).
Here are some highlights on specific countries or groups of countries: Imports into the US grew by 3%, but exports declined by nearly 4%. The report notes a "lack of price competitiveness" as a possible influence for this decline. Another reason for the decline in US exports is less "demand from some of its key trading partners because their economies were either hardly growing, such as Western Europe and Japan, or in outright contraction, as in Latin America." U.S. merchandise imports account for one fifth of world trade. China's worldwide exports and imports increased by more than 20 percent. United States imports from China increased by 22 percent, but those from Japan decreased. For the first time, China replaced Japan as the principal Asian supplier of merchandise to the United States. Western Europe's trade stagnated in volume terms with merchandise exports increasing by just 0.6 percent and imports declining by 0.5 percent. Latin America's merchandise imports declined by over 5 percent in 2002, although merchandise exports rose by about 2 percent. Both in Western Europe and Latin America imports stagnated in 2002. However, the slowdown was not evenly distributed throughout Europe. The countries where imports shrank were France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. "Some smaller Western European economies, such as Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Finland, however, saw relatively buoyant import expansion." The report also notes that after nearly a 20 percent rise between 1995 and 2001, the US dollar value "depreciated while those of the euro and yen appreciated." Thus, while Western Europe's exports in volume terms stagnated at 0.6%, the value of the exports increased by 5.5 percent because of the 5% depreciation of the dollar against the euro. |
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