China, east Asia boost share of global trade in 2020 after rapid recovery from coronavirus pandemic: UNCTAD
- China boosted its share of global exports more than any other nation in 2020, followed by Taiwan and Vietnam, according to a new United Nations report
- Global trade dropped 9 per cent in 2020, with trade in goods declining by 6 per cent and trade in services decreasing by 16.5 per cent
China and some east Asian nations racked up gains in their share of global exports in 2020, propelled by their ability to weather the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday.
China boosted its share of global trade the most, followed by Taiwan and Vietnam, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.
“The fall in global demand brought by Covid-19 has forced the least competitive suppliers out of global markets, while enabling the most competitive suppliers to thrive during the recovery process,” UNCTAD said.
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UNCTAD said goods trade from east Asia grew 12 per cent in the last quarter of 2020 compared to a year earlier, driven by the recovery of trade among developing countries.
Because of the strong economic rebound in east Asia, exports from the region’s developing countries – Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia and Vietnam – grew 8 per cent on year in the last quarter of 2020, while imports rose 6 per cent over the same period, according to preliminary estimates from UNCTAD.
Exports from developed countries were still down 1 per cent in the final quarter of last year compared to a year earlier, while imports rose 1 per cent.
China’s global market share has risen significantly since the coronavirus outbreak
“The performance of China’s export-oriented manufacturing sector since the onset of the pandemic has been stronger than expected,” Louis Kujis, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, said in a research note on Tuesday.
“Indeed, despite recent moderation, China’s global market share has risen significantly since the coronavirus outbreak, instead of as widely expected coming down.”
The UNCTAD said global trade dropped 9 per cent overall in 2020, with trade in goods declining by 6 per cent and trade in services decreasing by 16.5 per cent.
Trade in goods is likely to fall 1.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the last quarter of 2020, while a further decline in services of around 7 per cent is expected as a result of ongoing disruptions from the pandemic in the travel sector, the intergovernmental body said.
