WTO Releases 2006
International Trade Statistics
The World Trade Organization has released its 2007 edition of
“International Trade Statistics” describing world trade developments and trends
in 2006, with information on trade in merchandise and trade in commercial
services, among other things.
2006 Trade Trends and
Statistics
The WTO publication includes the following highlights of international
trade trends and statistics for 2006 (partial
list):
Merchandise trade grew more
than world GDP. In 2006,
the volume of world merchandise trade grew by 8% while world gross domestic
product grew by only 3.5%. This confirms the trend of world merchandise trade
growing by twice the annual growth rate of output since 2000.
Strong export growth for U.S,
China, Europe. The real
merchandise exports of the U.S. grew above the world average, at 11%, and
China’s trade expanded by 22%. The strong 2006 increase in the volume of merchandise
trade was also backed by a robust recovery of European exports, which increased
by 3 percentage points to 7%.
Weak export growth for S.
America, Africa, Middle East, etc. Below world average export growth rates were recorded for South and
Central America and the Caribbean (2.5%), the Commonwealth of Independent
States (6%), and Africa (3%). Exports of the Middle East stagnated in 2006.
Import/export balance. In 2006, exports from North America and
Asia grew faster than imports to the region. Europe recorded balanced export
and import growth of 7%. For South and Central America, the Commonwealth of
Independent States, Africa and the Middle East, import growth largely exceeded
that of exports. This pattern is linked to more favorable terms of trade due to
increases in commodity prices in the past few years.
Manufactured goods most
dynamic product group.
Manufactured goods were again the most dynamic product group, increasing by 10%
in constant prices in 2006. Trade in agricultural products recorded real growth
of 6%. Rising prices and mild weather moderated global demand growth and slowed
the expansion of trade in fuels and mining products to 3% in 2006.
Manufacturing goods exported
more than services. At
current prices, 2006 world merchandise trade increased by 16%, while trade in
commercial services expanded by only 12%. According to the WTO, high commodity
prices explain the higher growth rate of trade in merchandise.
Regional statistics. Among the WTO’s statistics for 2006 are
the following regional trends (partial
list): (1) sales of services through foreign affiliates of U.S. firms on
foreign markets (non-bank majority-owned) were more than twice as high as
conventional services exports;1 (2) more than 80% of Asia’s exports
were manufactured products; (3) Europe showed the highest share of
intra-regional trade at 31%; (4) South and Central America showed the highest
share of agricultural exports in their total trade; and (5) the Middle East,
Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States were highly dependent on
fuels and mining products, with more than two thirds of their export revenues
originating from this product group.
1Data is from
2004, the latest year for which comprehensive data was available.
WTO 2007 edition of
“International Trade Statistics” available at http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/its2007_e/its2007_e.pdf
Published in ITT on December 12, 2007 | [Ref: 07121230] |
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