The CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis released its monthly report last week on world trade and world industrial production for the month of October 2013. Here are some of the highlights of that report:
1. World merchandise trade volume (adjusted for price changes) increased by 1.4% in October from September, and by 4.1% from a year ago to reach a new all-time record high in October (see blue line in chart above). On a month-over-month basis, import growth in October was 1.3% for both the advanced economies and the emerging economies, while export growth was higher in the emerging economies (1.9%) than in the advanced economies (1.1%).
2. On an annual basis through October, the volume of trade grew faster in the emerging economies than in the advanced economies for both exports (4.7% vs. 3.6%) and imports (5.4% vs. 2.9%).
3. At a new record high of 134.6 for the world trade index in October,the volume of global trade is now more than 10% above its previous cyclical peak of 122.2 in early 2008, and 37.3% above the recessionary cyclical low of 98 in May 2009.