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Global trade volume rises in Q1 after a flat 2023: WTO
Value of g0ods trade in US dollar terms, however, was down 2% y-o-y, indicating that export and import prices were falling during this period, WTO said.
The volume of global merchandise trade rose in the first quarter of 2024 after staying flat throughout last year, data released by the World Trade Organization (WTO) this week showed.
Merchandise trade measured by the average of exports and imports was up 1% in the first quarter when compared with the previous quarter, with over trade, including services, up 1.4% in the first quarter when compared with the same period last year.
Most regions contributed to the rise in trade volume in the first quarter, with the exception of Europe where exports and imports continued to decline, the WTO data showed.
These are the first quarterly trade volume statistics released by the WTO since its most recent trade forecast was issued on 10 April in the organization’s Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report.
In that report, WTO economists had projected world merchandise trade volume to grow by 2.6% in the current year and by 3.3% in the next.
“The 1% increase in the first quarter is broadly consistent with these projections; if the current pace of expansion continues through the end of this year, trade volume for the whole of 2024 will be 2.7% higher than in 2023,” WTO said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the value of world merchandise trade in US dollar terms was down 2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024.
The fact that trade values were declining while trade volumes were rising indicates that export and import prices were falling during this period, WTO said.
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