with China, saw its overall export share decline more than any other nation, followed by Russia and the European Union bloc.
China, east Asia boost share of global trade in 2020 after rapid recovery from coronavirus pandemic: UNCTAD
Published in 12 February, 2021
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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 United States, which is locked in a
“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.
China was able to capture more market share in a number of sectors, including transport equipment and road vehicles, but lost ground to competitors Thailand, Vietnam and
on communication equipment and office machinery.
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.
Despite a push from the US to decouple from China, analysts believe the nation‘s leading role in global supply chains is unlikely to be eroded significantly.
“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.
Source: SCMP