February 23, 2024

World Trade Monitor December 2023

World Merchandise trade increased with 1.0% in December 2023 compared to the previous month, following an decrease of 1.3% in November. Compared to 2022 World Merchandise trade decreased with 1.9% in 2023. This is evident from the monthly CPB World Trade Monitor. The improvement of World Merchandise trade in December is widely supported. The imports of the advanced economies increased with 1.3%. That was mainly the result of increases in Japan (+4.9%), the United States (+2.2%), other advanced economies (+3.9%) and other emerging Asia (+1.7%). However the imports of the United Kingdom (-3.7%) and the Eurozone (-0.7%) decreased. The imports for the emerging economies increased particularly in China (+5.3%), Africa and Middle East (+2.1%) and Latin America (+1.8%). The increases for the exports of the advanced economies is also mainly the result of Japan (+7.7%), the United States (+3.3%), other advanced Asia (+1.8%) and other advanced economies (+0.9%). The total exports of the emerging economies decreased with 0.3%. That is mostly the result of declining exports for China (-1.0%) and other emerging Asia (-1.4%). But the exports of Eastern Europe (+3.9%) increased.

Developments in global international trade and industrial production December 2024:

  • World trade volume increased 1.0% month-on-month (growth was -1.3% in November, initial estimate -1.4%) and growth was 0.5% in 2023Q4 (-0.6% in 2023Q3).
  • World trade momentum was 0.5% (non-annualised; 0.3% in November, initial estimate 0.4%).
  • World industrial production increased 0.5% month-on-month (having increased 0.3% in November, unchanged from initial estimate) and growth was 0.5% in 2023Q4 (0.8% in 2023Q3).
  • World industrial production momentum was 0.5% (non-annualised; 0.4% in November, unchanged from initial estimate).

The next release of the CPB World Trade Monitor is scheduled for March 25, 2024, 12:00 hours.

The monthly CPB World Trade Monitor is an instrument with which CPB monitors the development of world trade and is published on behalf of the European Commission. It takes two months before the figures are available. The next CPB World Trade Monitor for the reporting month of January 2024 will be published on March 25. If you have any questions, please contact wtm@cpb.nl

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