Aria Farin Jaam
Freight Forwarding Co.

News

Latest news

Philadelphia Port Welcomes the Largest Ship to Ever Call at the U.S East Coast

Philadelphia Port Welcome...

The Philadelphia Port welcomed the biggest contain...

South Korea Launches 1st Container Ship Built for Autonomous Operations

South Korea Launches 1st...

South Korea has launched a container ship that wil...

U.S. Blacklists Companies Over $100 Million Iranian Commodity Shipment to China

U.S. Blacklists Companies...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Fo...

DP World seeks solar power opportunities with Masdar

DP World seeks solar powe...

The three-year deal will look for optimal sites fo...

Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company begins to create container convoys

Ukrainian Danube Shipping...

Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company has held consult...

First of new 2,000 TEU box ship series delivered to CMA CGM

First of new 2,000 TEU bo...

CMA CGM Mermaid, the first of a series of 10 vesse...

Houthis Fire Missiles At Iran-Bound Cargo Ship In Red Sea, Minor Damage Reported

Houthis Fire Missiles At...

Yemeni Houthis reportedly fired two missiles on Mo...

Chartered feeders de rigueur in Red Sea crisis

Chartered feeders de rigu...

Houthi military action has successfully seen the d...

Wednesday, 20 February 2019 09:56

World Trade Growth Slowing

Rate this item
(0 votes)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) expects slower trade growth this year. The weakness is likely to extend into the first quarter of 2019, according to the WTO’s latest World Trade Outlook Indicator released on February 19. 

The most recent WTOI reading of 96.3 is the weakest since March 2010 and below the baseline value of 100 for the index, signaling below-trend trade expansion into the first quarter. Weakness in the overall index was driven by steep declines in export orders (95.3), international air freight (96.8), automobile production and sales (92.5), electronic components (88.7) and agricultural raw materials (94.3). 

Only the index for container port throughput remained relatively buoyant at 100.3, showing on-trend growth. Front-loading of imports ahead of anticipated U.S.-China tariffs may have sustained container shipping to some extent, while technical problems in the German automotive sector may have contributed to weakness in automobile production and sales. 

The sustained loss of trade growth momentum highlights the urgency of reducing trade tensions, which together with continued political risks and financial volatility could foreshadow a broader economic downturn, warns the WTO. 

The WTO downgraded its trade forecast last September amid escalating trade disputes and tighter credit market conditions. Trade growth is currently forecast to slow to 3.7 percent in 2019 from an expected 3.9 percent in 2018, but these estimates could be revised downward if trade conditions continue to deteriorate.  

 

Reference: The Maritime Executive

Read 2753 times Last modified on Thursday, 21 February 2019 21:04

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.

rtl