According to the latest UN data, India, China and South Africa have fared ”relatively better” than most of the other major economies in imports and exports in the first quarter of this year.
The data further showed that recovery in global trade from the detestable COVID-19 crisis hit a record high during in the same period.
On Wednesday, the Global Trade Update by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that in the first quarter of 2021, the value of global trade in goods and services grew by almost 4 per cent quarter-over-quarter. Additionally, the value of global trade in goods and services grew by about 10 per cent year-over-year.
It stated that “Importantly, global trade in Q1 2021 was higher than pre-crisis levels, with an increase of about 3 per cent relative to Q1 2019,”. UNCTAD added that the trade rebound first quarter of 2021 was driven by the strong export performance of East Asian economies.
Though, the value of trade in goods was higher in first quarter of 2021 than pre-pandemic level, but it is to be noted that trade in services remained substantially below averages. Due to obvious reasons, the global trade of covid 19 related products remained strong in the first quarter of 2021.
The UNCTAD data additionally stated that import and export trends for some of the world’s major trading economies further illustrated the recovery patterns of Q1 2021. With a few exceptions, trade in major economies recovered from the fall of 2020.
However, as has been reported on several occasions, the large increases in the GDP data were due to the low base for 2020 and that trade in many of the major economies was still below 2019 averages.
source- UNCTAD
It stated that “China, India and South Africa have fared relatively better than other major economies during Q1 2021. China’s exports, in particular, registered a strong increase not only from 2020 averages but also in relation to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, exports from the Russian Federation remained well below 2019 averages,”.
According to the data released for India, it was stated that import of goods had grown by a humungous 45 per cent in first quarter of 2021 relative to the 2020 average. Additionally, it is to be noted that imports in services were up by 14 per cent. Export of goods for India grew by 26 per cent for the period under review while services exports grew 2 per cent.
Similarly, import of goods grew by 10 per cent in first quarter of 2021 relative to the 2019 average, similarly services imports were up 2 per cent.
During first quarter of 2021, trade continued to not only grow in sectors related to COVID-19, like the pharmaceuticals, office equipments and communication but also increased for most other sectors, namely minerals and agri-food department.
However the UNCTAD maintained that in contrast, the energy sector continued to lag behind and international trade of transport equipment remained well below averages as well.