In the most recent World Trade Update published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Global trade was worth a record USD 32 trillion dollars in 2022, but growth, which had turned negative in the second half of 2022, is forecast to stall in the first half of 2023.
According to UNCTAD, trade in goods was estimated to be worth USD 25 trillion, up 10% year-on-year (YoY), and trade in services was estimated to be worth USD 7 trillion, up 15% YoY.
“Those record levels are largely due to robust growth in the first half of 2022. Conversely, trade growth has been subpar during the second half of 2022, especially in the last quarter of 2022,” the World Trade Update stated.
According to the report, compared to Q3 2022, the number of goods traded decreased by roughly USD 250 billion in Q4 2022. The report also stated that service trade was mostly stable.
The report predicted that global commerce in goods is likely to grow by roughly 1% in Q1 2023, while trade in services is anticipated to grow by about 3% on the same basis.
The report did highlight the robust performance of trade in “green goods,” whose growth remained steady throughout the year, as the silver lining.
Environmentally friendly products, sometimes known as “green goods,” are those that are made to utilise fewer resources or produce less pollution than their conventional counterparts.
Trade in these goods increased by nearly 4% in the second half of the year, defying the decreasing trend. In 2022, their collective value reached a record USD 1.9 trillion, up more than USD 100 billion from 2021.
The report stated that electric and hybrid cars fared particularly well (+25%), non-plastic packaging performed well (+20%), and wind turbines performed well (+10%).
“This is good news for the planet,” says Alessandro Nicita, one of the report’s authors, “as these goods are key to protecting the environment and fighting climate change.”