International merchandise trade increased by 9.5% in 2018 despite the effects of US-China trade war, according to LogIndex, the data company of global logistics company Kuehne + Nagel.
In its latest gKNi World Trade Indicator report, Kuehne + Nagel said the global economy had performed well in 2018 and was only 0.2% behind 2017’s figures.
Furthermore, the figures were significantly better than they were in 2016, when global trade shrunk to 3.3%.
Sea freight rose by 2.9% in 2018, driven largely by US and Chinese ports, which grew by 4% and 2.8% respectively.
In its report, Kuehne + Nagal credits the strong data to a jump of 4% in global trade volume, as well as higher prices for goods.
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December on its own was a strong month for world trade and grew by 1.7% year-on-year (YoY), although this was down from November’s growth figures of 4%.
The best performing region was Latin America, which saw its foreign trade grow by 9.5% year-on-year, although this was down from the 14.1% growth it enjoyed in 2017.
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Emerging markets, in general, led the way and grew by 4.5% in December 2018 YoY, slightly down on 2017’s growth of 5.7%.
Advanced economies, of which North America was the strongest region, grew by 2.8%, but this was almost half its 5.6% growth of 2017.
The best performing export nations were Australia, Brazil and Sweden, but the indicators from Kuehne + Nagel suggest export rates from Taiwan, Japan and Korea will decline in January.
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