Wto: Trade in goods in the third quarter was still lower than before the outbreak

Global trade in goods rebounded in the third quarter, up 11.6% from the previous quarter, but still fell 5.6% from the same period last year, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said Thursday, as North America and Europe eased "blockade" measures and major economies adopted fiscal and monetary policies to support their economies.

From the perspective of export performance, the recovery momentum of the regions with higher degree of industrialization is strong, while the recovery pace of the regions with natural resources as the main export products is relatively slow. In the third quarter of this year, the volume of goods exported from North America, Europe and Asia increased by double digits compared with the previous quarter. According to the import data, the volume of goods imported from North America and Europe rebounded sharply compared with the second quarter, but the volume of goods imported from all regions of the world fell compared with the same period last year.

Data show that in the first three quarters of this year, the volume of global trade in goods fell 8.2 percent year on year. The RECENT rebound in COVID-19 in some regions is likely to have an impact on trade in goods in the fourth quarter, further affecting full-year performance, the WTO said.

In October, the WTO forecast that global trade in goods would contract by 9.2 per cent this year and grow by 7.2 per cent next year, but trade would be well below pre-outbreak levels.