The World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Wednesday (18.08.2021) that its Barometer reached an all-time high and that the exchange of goods continues its solid recovery after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WTO reported that its goods trade indicator rose to 110,4 points, reflecting “the highest level since the indicator was first published in July 2016 and an increase of more than 20 points year-on-year.”
However, the Agency clarified that The outlook for global trade remains clouded by downside risks, including regional disparities, continued weakness in trade in services and delayed vaccination schedules, especially in poor countries.
He detailed that All component indices of the barometer were above the trend in the last month. The indices of air cargo (114,0), transport of containers (110,8) and raw materials (104,7) in particular continued to increase, indicating faster than average business growth.
Also, the product index automotive (106,6) also rose despite the fact that car production and sales fell in July in some countries due to a shortage of semiconductors (the increase can be explained by the smoothing of the underlying data). This shortage is also reflected in a small drop in the electronic components index (112,4).
Meanwhile, the prospective index of new export orders (109,3) has slowed more definitively, showing that the pace of recovery is likely to slow in the near term.
According to the WTO, this latest Barometer reading suggests that goods trade will experience an even stronger year-on-year increase in the second quarter, once trade volume data for that period become available.
It should be recalled that the Merchandise Trade Barometer, formerly the World Trade Outlook Indicator, is a leading indicator that signals changes in world trade growth two to three months ahead of merchandise trade volume statistics.WTO Press Release)
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