Growth Of Global Merchandise Trade Likely To Remain Weak In Third Quarter - WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday forecasted that the global trade in goods growth will remain weak in 2019

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday forecasted that the global trade in goods growth will remain weak in 2019.

"The growth of world merchandise trade volumes is likely to remain weak in the third quarter of 2019," the WTO said in its Goods Trade Barometer report.

The current international trade level is almost 5 points lower than the baseline value of 100, and this trend will continue in the coming months, the report said, with freight and electronic goods performing the worst.

"The international air freight (91.4) and electronic components (90.7) indices showed the strongest deviations from trend, with readings well below previous releases," the report noted. "Indices for export orders (97.5), automobile production and sales (93.5) and agricultural raw materials (97.1) all remained below trend although they show some signs of having bottomed out."

Container shipping (99.0) was the only industry area that was close to the baseline value, the WTO added.