WTO goods trade barometer declines further in Q4

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) — The World Trade Organization's (WTO) barometer for global goods trade declined to 92.2, the WTO said on Wednesday, pointing to a further weakening of trade growth in terms of volume.

"World merchandise trade growth appears to have lost momentum in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is likely to remain weak in the first quarter of 2023," the WTO said in a statement after the release of the Goods Trade Barometer reading.

World merchandise trade volume growth was unexpectedly strong in the third quarter of 2022, rising 5.6% year-on-year. The figure was well below the baseline value of 100, though, signaling that the goods trade had either fallen below trend or would do so in the near future.

The projected slowdown may be short lived, since container throughput of Chinese ports has already started to pick up after Beijing lifted coronavirus measures.

All of the barometer's component indices fell below trend levels, except for the automotive products index (105.8), which was buoyed by above-trend sales and production figures for the US, Europe, and Japan, outweighing declines in China.

The export orders index reading of 97.4 also remained below trend but was rising, hinting at a possible upturn in the near future.

Indices for container shipping (89.3), air freight (87.8), electronic components (84.9), and raw materials (92) were falling, suggesting that the weakness in trade was broad-based and impacting many sectors.