If China is the chef in the kitchen making us all food, there’s reason to believe that the global economy might be getting less hungry in the near future. In other words, in September, the Chinese factories that anchor the world’s top manufacturer and top exporter bought less than expected of the raw materials they…

The recent bottlenecks in ocean shipping and in ports hit by Covid-19 outbreaks have spotlighted the economic power of one of the world’s most important crops: soybeans. With Chinese buyers waiting for better margins before buying, and a lack of shipping capacity, exports are down by volume, but, thanks to higher prices due to shipping…

The global economy is getting back to normal, but supply chains are not exactly returning to where they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. Consider this: In August, Chinese shipments of textiles fell 14.8% year-on-year, off a low base in 2020, to $12.5 billion, and exports of mobile phones declined 24.4% to $7.4 billion. However, sales…

In the ongoing disruption of the global economy, Vietnam is emerging as a clear winner. Its economy is expected to grow by 4.8% of GDP in 2021, according to the World Bank. To be sure, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit Vietnam this summer, after the country was largely successful at curtailing the virus in 2020.…

China’s industrial sector is headed for a slowdown in the second half of 2021, according to an analysis by Trade Data Monitor, the world’s premier source of trade statistics. In July, overall exports increased 19.4%, to $282.7 billion, compared to the same month a year earlier, below analysts’ expectations. In June, they had increased 32.2%…

Like other Meditereanen and Middle Eastern countries, Israel has been diligently diversifying exports, and is now seeking out new markets for trade growth. Israeli manufacturing and logistic firms, and export promotion agencies and the government, have been finding new markets and opportunities, creating a pathway for Israeli companies to compete around the world. The new…

The lithium-ion battery supply chain runs through China and Latin America. The world’s top two exporters of the raw material needed to make electric batteries -- lithium carbonate -- are Chile and Argentina, according to an analysis by Trade Data Monitor, the world’s top source for trade statistics. But now the Latin American countries have…

Once again, China posted robust headline trade numbers in June, showing off its status as the world’s top power in the global trading economy. Total exports increased 32% year-on-year in June to $281.4 billion. For the first half of 2021, exports rose to 39% to $1.5 trillion. Overall imports in June increased 37% to $229.9…

For Latin American firms and officials, global trade seems divided into two big, rich markets: Asian developing economies led by China gobbling up commodities, and rich consumers in the U.S. buying manufactured goods. This state of affairs has been shaped by two important forces: aggressive industrialization in Asia, and manufacturing outsourcing in the U.S. which…

As the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, China, the U.S., and other top economies are renewing their commitments to green energy. The world's nenewable energy capcaty increased by 45% in 2020, the largest increased in over 20 years, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency. The growth was driven by a…

For years, economists marveled at China’s history-shaping growth in manufacturing exports. But as this April’s trade data from Beijing illustrates, it’s time to start paying more attention to the ballooning of shipments to China. Chinese imports in April increased 43.1% year-on-year to $221.1 billion, the biggest jump since January 2011. As the global economy recovers…

The Covid-19 pandemic reordered the global economy as billions of people learned to work from home, crippling demand for everything we use to get around, from shoes to petroleum. One of the commodities that got whacked by Covid in 2020, because it is so tied to the automotive industry, and is now staging a comeback,…

It is China’s exploding wealth, rising middle classes, and expanding appetite for meat that make it the world’s top purchaser of soybeans. In 2020, China imported 100.3 million tons, worth $39.5 billion, of the legume, which is a key ingredient in making soybean meal as feed for swine. That was almost double the amount of…

It was March 2020 that marked the depths of the Covid-19 economic crisis. Factories closed. Shops shuttered. Consumer locked their doors and wallets. Last month’s Chinese exports signals that the global economy has found its way back. Spring is here. Wallets are open. In March, Chinese exports increased 30.7% year-on-year to $241.1 billion. That’s significant…

Looking for Love Outside the EU The trade consequences of Brexit already include a dramatic shrinking of commerce with the European Union, an expansion of trade with other allies, redrawing of supply chains for companies, and the separate counting of foreign trade with Northern Ireland, according to an analysis of import and export statistics from…

The global economy appears ready for a strong rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. Shipments from China, the world’s top exporter, increased a whopping 60.6% year-on-year to $468.9 billion over the first two months of 2021, according to Trade Data Monitor, the world’s premier source of trade numbers. China’s strong bounce-back cements its path toward owning…

The age of the lithium-ion battery has arrived, and it’s Asia, especially China, that is dominating burgeoning global trade. In the first 10 months of 2020, China exported $12.5 billion of lithium-ion batteries, followed by South Korea ($4 billion), Poland ($3.2 billion), and Germany ($2.7 billion), according to Trade Data Monitor. As a recent story…

New Covid-19 vaccines have funded new research, fueled sprawling supply chains, and boosted demand for yeasts and other key ingredients, according to an analysis by Trade Data Monitor, the world’s top source of trade statistics. Total shipments of “immunological products” are expected to increase 18.5% to $134 billion in 2020 from $113.1 billion in 2019,…

China’s full-year numbers show how global trade was almost crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic during the first quarter of 2020, but recovered in large part thanks to Chinese exports, according to an analysis by Trade Data Monitor, the world’s top source of trade statistics. In the first quarter of 2020, as China’s economy contracted 6.8%,…

As countries around the world launch Covid-19 vaccination programs, Vietnam is emerging from the pandemic as one of the global economy’s strongest survivors. The gross domestic product of the Asian nation of 96 million people rose 2.9% last year, making it one of the only economies in the world, along with China, to record positive…

Buoyed by a rebounding economy as the U.S. and Europe continue to struggle with containing the coronavirus, China reported shipments of $268 billion, a stunning 21.1% increase from November 2019, almost twice the year-on-year gain in October. Analysts had predicted similar growth this past month. China’s 2020 boom in exports is beyond a statistical blip,…

China maintained its strong 2020 export performance in October, buoyed by a summer of consumer spending in the U.S. and Europe after a locked-down spring. Overall, outbound shipments increased to $237.2 billion, up 11.4% compared to the same month a year before. After almost a year of robust export growth, it’s becoming clear that the…

The economic anchor of Eastern Europe is Poland, the most successful of all former Soviet bloc nations. Thanks to its trade prowess, the country is turning into one of the economic pillars of all of Europe. In the first half of 2020, Poland exported $121.6 billion worth of goods. That’s more than bigger countries like…

China, the world’s most powerful trading nation, this week reported September exports of $239.8 billion, up 9.9% over a year before. The strong performance suggests that the global economy may be recovering from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected over 38 million and killed over a million people around the world.…