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1100 GENEVA TIME ( 0900  GMT) 12 APRIL 2007  
 
PRESS/472 
12 April 2007 
 
(07-1438) 
WORLD TRADE 2006, PROSPECTS FOR 2007 
Risks lie ahead following strong er trade in 2006, WTO reports 
Risks in financial and property markets and large trade imbalances in goods and services mean 
increased uncertainty in 2007 and raise the prospect  of weaker economic and trade expansion in 
the coming year, according to WTO economists. 
 In their preliminary assessment of trade in 2006 and prospects for the coming year, they said the 
consensus among forecasters of around 3% global economic growth in 2007 could slow 
merchandise trade growth to about 6% compared with 8% in 2006.  
By contrast, the world economy and trade grew vigorously in 2006, the 8% expansion in 
merchandise trade being the second highest since 2000. Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) — a measure of the size of the economy — was stronger than expected in Europe and Japan. The 
Chinese and Indian economies continued to record high growth. 
 Least-developed countries’ trade grew by about 30 %, fuelled by higher prices for petroleum and 
other primary commodities. They and developing co untries as a whole saw their shares of world 
merchandise trade reach record proportions. And for some of the smaller suppliers, fear of a 
setback in textiles and clothing in the face of competition from China proved unfounded in 2006. 
 
“The strong performance of 2006 is welcome, partic ularly the gains made by developing and least-
developed countries,” WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said. “But this has to be consolidated. 
The uncertainties that lie ahead are a warning for us not to lose sight of the need to continue to 
reform the world economy.”  
“The best contribution the WTO can make is to keep strengthening the multilateral trading system. 
One of the unsung achievements of the system is  its stabilizing effect on world trade and the 
global economy. A successful conclusion to the Doha Round holds great potential for boosting 
growth and alleviating poverty. An agreement wo uld also deliver more relevant trade rules, 
helping to establish a more stable and certain foundation for today’s dynamic global marketplace.”   
Overview of major trade developments in 2006 
The overall picture in 2006 was of trade expanding in real terms (i.e. ignoring price changes), faster than output by a large margin. The dollar value of world merchandise exports increased by PRESS/472 
Page 2 of 21 
 
 15% to $11.76 trillion in 2006. Commercial services exports were up by an estimated 11% and 
reached $2.71 trillion in 2006. 
 Price changes affected the nominal merchandise trade growth rates of countries and whole 
regions. The annual average prices for fuels and metals rose sharply, benefiting the export 
earnings of fuels and metal exporters.  
The four regions with the highest share of fuels and other mining products in their merchandise 
exports (the Middle East, Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States — CIS — and South and Central America) again recorded the strongest annual export rise in 2006. 
 
The United States recorded its best annual merchandise export growth in more than a decade but its trade deficit continued to grow. However, wh en adjusted for price changes, US merchandise 
exports expanded faster than world trade and faster than US imports. 
 China’s trade growth continued to outstrip other major traders. China’s merchandise exports grew 
by 27%. In the second half of 2006, its merchandis e exports started to exceed those of the United 
States, but for the whole year US exports still exceeded those of China.  
Least-developed countries’ exports rose sharply in 2006 due to much larger values of fuels exports 
and stronger exports of other primary products and manufactured goods.  
Developing countries’ share of world merchandise exports reached an all time record of 36%. The 
0.9%,share for least-developed countries was also a record, the highest level since 1980, the earliest data kept by the WTO. 
 
The picture for textiles and clothing is better for small suppliers with preferences in developed country markets than many had feared following the 2005 elimination of quotas and of the WTO’s 
Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.  
 As expected, China has enhanced its role as the leading supplier. Low and lower-middle income 
countries have seen their share of world exports of textiles and clothing increase markedly. The 
richer developing countries, including the newly-industrializing Asian economies (NICs) and Mexico, lost market share. Some small suppliers also lost shares, but others gained. Overall, in 
2006, the least-developed countries increased their shares of developed countries’ textiles 
imports. The fact that China, India and Bangladesh  performed well also means that millions of low-
income workers benefited.  
Details: the state of the world economy and trade in 2006 
The year 2006 witnessed robust growth in the world economy and vigorous trade expansion. Global gross domestic production (GDP) growth a ccelerated to 3.7%, the second best performance 
since 2000. All major regions recorded GDP growth in excess of population growth. 
 Economic growth in the least-developed countries continued to exceed 6% for the third year in a 
row. A large part of the stronger global economy is attributable to the recovery in Europe, which 
turned out to be stronger than expected in ea rly 2006. The United States economy maintained its 
overall expansion as weaker domestic demand was ba lanced by a reduction in the external deficit, 
mainly due to a faster export growth. In Japan somewhat faster economic growth was achieved 
despite weaker domestic demand reflected in a wi dening of its external surplus. China and India 
continued to report outstandingly high economic and trade growth. 
 PRESS/472 
Page 3 of 21 
 
 
Strong economic fundamentals in many key economies contributed to stronger investor confidence 
worldwide. General government deficits decreased in the United States, the European Union and in 
Japan and inflationary pressures were contained. A high level of global monetary liquidity combined with a low level of real interest rates contributed to a rally on global stock markets. 
Stock markets in emerging economies again recorded much faster growth than those in developed 
economies. Increased investor confidence in emer ging markets is also reflected in the sharply 
reduced spread in interest margins between emerging market bonds and those of US government 
bonds.  
 The more favourable investment climate is also re flected in a sharp rise in  global foreign direct 
investment (FDI) flows in 2006, which approached the record levels of the past. UNCTAD
1 reports 
that global FDI inflows surged by one-third to $1.23 trillion, the second highest level ever. The 
high growth of global FDI flows can be attribut ed partly to increased mergers and acquisitions 
activity and higher share prices. A high level of total net private capital flows to emerging markets 
was reported by the Institute of International Finance. 2 
 
A further sign of high global liquidity is the ri se in global foreign exchange reserves and the 
advanced re-payment of external public debt by a number of developing countries. Debt levels, measured by the outstanding debt to GDP ratios, decreased in all developing regions partly due to 
debt forgiveness. For the heavily indebted poor countries the debt levels in 2006 are estimated to 
have come down to half the level reported five years ago.
3 
 
The real effective exchange rate of the US dollar  continued to depreciate moderately, contributing 
to the readjustment of the US current account de ficit (the trade deficit in goods and services).4 
The exchange rates of the Asian economies with large current account surpluses fared differently 
in 2006. On an annual average basis, real effectiv e exchange rates appreciated significantly in the 
case of the Republic of Korea and Singapore and moderately in the case of China. The Japanese 
Yen, however, continued to depreciate in 2006.5 
 
High global liquidity and a further steep rise in th e price of fuels and nominal interest rates has not 
so far translated into higher domestic inflation rates. In developed markets consumer price 
increases averaged between 2% and 3%, and in the developing economies the rate was about 
5%. In both developed and developing regions no acceleration in consumer price inflation was observed between 2005 and 2006.
6 However, inflationary pressures can be detected in sectors for 
which supply is less elastic, such as real estate markets and auction prices for works of art.  
 The strong global macro-economic situation in 2006 provided a favourable framework for the 
expansion of international trade. In 2006, world merchandise exports grew in real terms (i.e. at 
constant prices) by 8.0%, compared to 6.5% in the preceding year. A large part of this trade acceleration can be attributed to the marked recovery in Europe’s export and import growth. 
Higher prices of fuels and metals led to a stagnation in the quantity of mining products traded 
                                              
 
1  UNCTAD, UNCTAD Investment Brief, No.1, 2007. 
2  Institute for International Finance, Capital Flows to Emerging Market Economies, 
January 18, 2007. 
3  IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2007, Table 40. 
4  The ratio of the US current account deficit to US GDP is estimated to have 
remained unchanged in 2006 and the deficit started to decline in current dollar terms in the fourth 
quarter of 2006. 
5  JPMorgan, Real broad effective exchange rate indices. Direct communication to the 
WTO Secretariat. 
6  IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2007. PRESS/472 
Page 4 of 21 
 
 internationally but the higher export earnings of oil exporters resulted in import growth in excess 
of the world average. High energy prices also  invigorated demand for mining equipment and 
investment in machinery with high energy efficiency.  
China’s merchandise trade expansion remained ou tstandingly strong in 2006. Office and telecom 
equipment continued to be the mainstay of Chines e export growth but significant gains in world 
market shares in 2006 could be observed in “tra ditional” exports such as clothing and “new” 
products such as iron and steel. Chinese imports again rose faster than global trade but continued 
to lag behind export growth. 
Trade prospects for 2007  
The marked correction in share prices observed on global stock markets at the end of February 2007 highlighted the increased uncertainty of investors with respect to the short-term prospects of the world economy. The consensus among forecasters favours a moderate deceleration in world 
economic growth in 2007.
7 The economic fundamentals in the major economies are strong enough 
to keep global economic growth close to 3% (GDP measured at market exchange rates).   
US domestic demand slowed markedly in the second half of 2006 and is expected to weaken 
further in the first half of 2007. Imports of goods and services contracted between the third and fourth quarter (on a seasonally adjusted basis) an d should remain subdued in the first half of 2007 
(see Chart 1). The slowdown in GDP growth in Euro pe is expected to be less pronounced than in 
the United States (and could be avoided in Japan), maintaining developed countries economic growth close to 2.5% in 2007. Demand in the oil importing countries is expected to benefit from 
on average lower import prices of fuels in 2007. Although endogenous factors have played an 
increasing role in developing country economic pe rformance over the last decade, the slowdown in 
industrial markets is likely to contribute to less dynamic growth in the developing world, which is 
still expected to grow at least twice as fast as the developed markets. The most likely scenario is 
that GDP growth in 2007 will slow down in all re gions, with relatively even growth among the 
regions in the developed and developing areas. 
 
Chart 1: Real GDP and trade growth of United States, 2005-06 
Percentage change on quarter to quarter basis
(at annual rates)
-5.0-2.50.02.55.07.510.012.515.0
Q1
2005Q1
2006
Exports of goods and services GDP Imports of goods and servicesPercentage change on a year to year basis
-5.0-2.50.02.55.07.510.012.515.0
Q1
2005Q1
2006
 
Source : OECD, Olisnet. 
 
                                               
7  OECD, OECD Economic Outlook December 2006, UN, World Economic Situation 
and Prospects 2007, January 2007 and IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2007. PRESS/472 
Page 5 of 21 
 
 
The major risks to this scenario are found in financial market developments, a dramatic downturn 
in the property markets, and the continued exis tence of large current account imbalances. The 
search for high yield investments has led to a rapid expansion of financial instruments (hedge funds, carry trade). 
 
Assuming the basic scenario of global economic GDP growth of nearly 3%, global merchandise 
trade could slow down to about 6% in 2007, or 2 percentage points less than in 2006. This 
estimate is supported by the results of the Secretariat’s time series forecasting model which 
predicts a slowdown in the OECD area’s imports of goods and services to 4.5%, a 2.5 percentage point decrease from the rate observed in 2006. 
 
The downside risks associated with this trade projection include a stronger than expected correction in highly priced property markets, a pick up in inflation, and risk perceptions that could 
lead to a further rise of interest rates. Interest  rate rises could trigger a correction of stock and 
bond markets and lower then predicted levels of investment and private consumption.  
Real merchandise trade developments and output in 2006 
The pick up in global economic activity was the major factor in the vigorous expansion of global trade in 2006. Real merchandise export growth is provisionally estimated to have grown by 8.0% 
in 2006, almost two percentage points faster than in 2005, and well above the average expansion 
of the last decade (1996-2006). The expansion of real trade exceeded global output growth by 
more than 4 percentage points (see Chart 2). 
 
Chart 2 : Growth in the volume of world merchandise trade and GDP, 1996-06  
(Annual percentage change) 
 
Source : WTO. 
 
In 2006, the variation in regional real trade grow th increased even though economic growth by 
region differed less than in the preceding year. These divergent developments can be attributed largely to the terms of trade changes in favour of  fuel-exporting countries and regions. The North 
American region comprises two net exporters of fu els and the United States, which is a major net 
importer of fuels. The real merchandise exports of the United States rose by 10.5% in 2006, which was the highest growth rate since 1997 and almost two times faster than its import growth. -2024681012
1996 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 2006GDP
Merchandise exports
Average export 
growth 1996-06
Average GDP 
growth
1996 06PRESS/472 
Page 6 of 21 
 
 Energy related petroleum products decreased by 2. 5% in volume terms. Weaker domestic demand 
in the United States, a lower real effective (i.e. trade weighted) dollar exchange rate, and stronger 
global demand growth contributed to this favourable development. Canada’s merchandise exports slowed down markedly due to the combination of lower US demand and a marked appreciation of 
the Canadian dollar since 2002. Mexican merchandise trade expanded vigorously with both imports 
and exports up by double digit rates as its economy recorded its best growth since 2000.  
At 13.5%, Asia’s real merchandise exports remained the most buoyant of all regions. Asia’s 
imports rose faster than in the preceding year and faster than world trade but continued to lag behind its export growth. Most of the excess of Asia’s export over import growth can be attributed 
to the region’s major traders, China and Japan. The expansion of China’s exports was somewhat 
less dynamic in 2006 than in 2005, while Japan, the Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei recorded a faster growth (between 10% and 15%). Impo rts into Japan and Chinese Taipei, however, 
advanced by only 2% to 3% in 2006.  PRESS/472 
Page 7 of 21 
 
 
 
Table 1: GDP and merchandise trade by region, 2004-06  
(Annual percentage change at constant prices) 
 
  GDP  Exports  Imports 
  2004 2005 2006   2004 2005 2006   2004 2005 2006 
            
North America 3.9 3.2 3.4  8.0 6.0 8.5  10.5 6.5 6.5 
United States 3.9 3.2 3.4  8.5 8.0 10.5  11.0 6.0 5.5 
            South and Central America 
a 6.9 5.2 5.2  13.0 8.0 2.0  18.5 14.0 10.5 
            Europe 2.4 1.8 2.8  7.0 4.0 7.5  7.0 4.0 7.0 
European Union (25) 2.3 1.6 2.8  7.0 4.0 7.5  6.5 3.5 6.5 
            Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)  
8.0  
6.7  
7.5  12.0 3.5 3.0  16.0 18.0 20.0 
            Africa and Middle East 6.0 5.5 5.4  8.0 5.0 1.0  14.0 13.0 8.5             Asia 4.8 4.1 4.4  15.5 11.5 13.5  14.5 8.0 8.5 
China 10.1 9.9 10.7  24.0 25.0 22.0  21.5 11.5 16.5 Japan 
b 2.7 1.9 2.2  13.5 5.0 10.0  6.5 2.0 2.0 
India 8.0 8.5 8.3  15.5  20.5  11.5   16.0  20.5  12.0 
            World 3.9 3.2 3.7  10.0 6.5 8.0  ... ... ... 
a Includes the Caribbean.  
b Trade volume data are derived from customs values defl ated by standard unit values and an adjusted price 
index for electronic goods. 
Source : WTO. 
 
Europe’s real merchandise exports recorded their strongest annual growth since 2000, exceeding 
import growth (estimated at 7%) but continued to lag behind the global rate of trade expansion. European countries recorded considerable variation in their trade performance. Double-digit export 
growth can be observed for the countries at its eastern border, ranging from Finland and the Baltic 
states in the North to Turkey in the South. All these countries benefited from further integration with the EU and the strength of import demand from the Commonwealth of Independent States 
(CIS) region. Both Germany and the United Kin gdom recorded export and import growth well 
above the European average, while real trade growth was sluggish in Italy and Spain and 
stagnated in France and Ireland. 
 
The four net fuel exporting regions (CIS, Middle East, Africa and South/Central America and the 
Caribbean) only recorded a small increase in their export volume (of about 2 percentage points), 
while their imports rose faster than global trade in 2006 (Chart 3). The most buoyant imports of all 
regions were observed for Commonwealth of Independent States, which are estimated to have expanded by 20%, while the region’s real exports remained sluggish in 2006. In contrast to these 
global trade developments, South and Central America’s expansion rate of both exports and 
imports decelerated in 2006. Venezuela recorded a marked contraction of her exports and those of 
Brazil rose by less than 4%. The combined export s of Africa and the Middle East are estimated to 
have almost stagnated, while imports, despite their deceleration, continued to expand somewhat 
faster than the global average. While the slowdown in the exports of these regions can be linked to 
reduced demand for the more expensive categories of fuels and metals, the increase in imports PRESS/472 
Page 8 of 21 
 
 might be considered modest given the outstanding income growth of these regions over the last 
three years.
8 
 Chart 3: Real merchandise trade growth by region, 2006  
(Annual percentage change) 
Commonw ealth of 
Independent States
South and Central 
Am erica  a
Asia
Europe
North A mericaAfrica & Middle 
Eas t
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22Imports
Ex por tsWorld 
exports
 
a Includes the Caribbean.
Source:   WTO. 
Nominal merchandise and commercial se rvices trade developments in 20069 
World merchandise exports in dollar value terms were strongly affected by price developments in 
2006. Price developments differed widely by sector in the course of the year. According to the IMF 
commodity price indices, the world export prices of minerals and non-ferrous metals increased by 
56%, those of fuels by 20% and those of food and agricultural raw materials by 10%. Export 
prices of manufactured goods are estimated to have increased by not more than 3%.10 
                                               
8  There are indications that some imports are not fully covered in the regular trade 
returns which could lead not only to an underreporting of the level of imports but also to an 
underestimation of their import growth 
9  Merchandise trade values for 2006 were estimated on the basis of monthly 
customs data while commercial services data are derived from Balance of Payments statistics. The 
latter are typically  available later than merchandise trade data, contributing to a greater 
uncertainty in the estimates for services than for merchandise trade in 2006. 
10  Dollar export prices of manufactured goods increased in the United States and 
Germany by 2.5% and 1.7% respectively while those of Japan decreased by 2.5% in 2006. China’s 
export unit value index for manufactured goods rose by 3.6% in 2006. PRESS/472 
Page 9 of 21 
 
 
Chart 4: Export prices of selected primary products, 2005 and 2006 
(Annual percentage change)  
  
 
 
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
  
a Comprising coffee, cocoa beans and tea. 
Source:  IMF, International Financial Statistics. 
 
 
Price changes for manufactured goods remained less strong than those for primary products for 
the third consecutive year. An important element in the moderate price trends for manufactured goods was the continued decline in prices for electronic goods, which accounted for more than one 
in six dollars of world exports of manufactured goods in 2005. These shifts in relative prices are 
explained largely by the different regional export un it values (prices) which ranged from 4% to 5% 
for Asia and Europe to about 18% to 20% for ex ports of South and Central America, Africa, the 
Middle East and the CIS. Information on price trends for world commercial services trade are not 
available. However, the price deflators for US services exports and imports increased between 3% and 4% in 2006, somewhat less rapidly than in the preceding year.  
 
Overall exchange rate developments in 2006 only had a moderate impact on the dollar price level 
of internationally traded goods. Contrary to  developments between 2002 and 2004, the average 
annual exchange rate change between the US doll ar and the euro and the British pound had been 
rather moderate as divergent developments in the course of 2005 and 2006 balanced each other. While a weaker yen might have contributed to weaker dollar export prices of Japan, the 
appreciation of the Canadian dollar and the currencies of several Asian traders had the opposite 
effect (see Chart 5).  
 Beverages aFoodAgricultural 
raw materialsMinerals and  
non-ferrous 
metals
Fuels
- 5 5 1 52 53 54 55 56 52006 
2005 §PRESS/472 
Page 10 of 21 
 
 Chart 5: Dollar changes vis-à-vis selected major currencies, 2001-2006  
(Indices, January 2001=100) 
708090100110120
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006Euro(€)
CAN$
UK£
708090100110120
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006Japanese Yen 
NICs a
Chinese Yuan
 
a Trade weighted currency basket of the Korean won,  the Singapore dollar and Chinese Taipei dollar. 
Source : IMF, International Financial Statistics. 
 
 
World merchandise exports in dollar terms rose by 15.4% to $11.76 trillion. About 40% of this value change can be attributed to inflation. Commercial services exports rose by 11% to $2.71 
trillion. The increase in commercial services exports in 2006 was about the same as in the 
preceding year and for the fourth consecutive year less pronounced than that of merchandise trade. It is uncertain to what extent divergent re lative price developments have contributed to the 
differences in the growth of merchandise and commercial services trade values. 
 
Table 2: World exports of merchandise and commercial services, 2006  
(Billion dollars and percentage) 
 
  Value   Annual percentage change 
  2006   2000-06 2004 2005 2006 
       
Merchandise 11762  11 22 14 15 
       Commercial services 2710  10 20 11 11               
Source : WTO.  
 
Merchandise exports by region in dollar terms have been strongly affected again by price 
developments. The four regions with the highest sh are of fuels and other mining products in their 
merchandise exports — the Middle East (70% in 2005), Africa (65%), the Commonwealth of 
Independent States (60%) and South/Central America (37%) again recorded the strongest annual export increases in 2006. However, as prices of fuels increased in 2006 less rapidly than in 2005, 
the sharp rise in the export values of these regi ons were in effect smaller than in the preceding 
year. The opposite development can be observed for the net importers of fuels — North America, Europe and Asia reported a faster export grow th in 2006 than in 2005, although the growth in 
their shipments remained less strong than that of the fuel exporting regions. 
 Although Europe’s merchandise exports recorded the weakest regional growth rate (13%), its 
share in world merchandise exports, at 42%, remained the largest of all regions. Europe’s imports 
rose by 14% to $5.22 trillion. Intra-EU (25) tr ade rose by 13%, which was somewhat stronger PRESS/472 
Page 11 of 21 
 
 
than export growth to third countries (11%) but slower than imports from third countries (15%). 
The Baltics and the Balkan states continued to record export and import growth in excess of 20%. 
The combined exports/imports of the Balkan stat es exceed those of Turkey, whose exports and 
imports also expanded faster than those of total Europe. 
 
In North America, Mexico reported stronger export and import growth than its NAFTA partners. The United States reported its best annual export growth performance (14%) in more than a 
decade, and although US export growth exceeded its import growth (11%), the merchandise trade 
deficit had grown already so large that it continue d to grow in 2006. Only in the fourth quarter, 
supported by the decline in import volumes and falling import prices for crude oil, did the US 
merchandise trade deficit started to decrease. 
 Asia’s merchandise exports and imports continued to expand faster than world trade in 2006. 
Among the six major Asian traders China continued to record the highest export and import 
growth, and as its export growth continued to exceed its import growth, the merchandise trade 
surplus rose sharply. In the course of 2006, China’s trade surplus widened further as the 
momentum in the export expansion was maintained while nominal import growth slackened, partly 
due to weaker oil prices. The dollar value of Japa n’s merchandise exports grew by nearly 9% but 
continued to lag behind the expansion of world tr ade and its own import growth. The fast growing 
economies of India and Viet Nam reported a vigo rous expansion of exports and imports, in the 
range of 20% to 35% in 2006. Since 1995, the exports and imports of these two countries have expanded faster than Asia’s trade and their share in world merchandise exports increased 
markedly. Among the smaller Asian traders, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Mongolia continued their 
double-digit export expansion, a feature since 2003, with exports up between 20% and 44% in 2006. The merchandise trade of New Zealand virtuall y stagnated while that of Chinese Taipei and 
the Philippines was less dynamic than world trade in 2006. 
 Africa’s merchandise exports rose by 21%, again faster than imports, which are estimated to have 
increased by nearly 16%. The share of Africa in  world merchandise exports reached its highest 
level since 1990. Although most of Africa’s export growth can be attributed to the rise in oil exports, it is a noticeable development that non-oil exporting African countries increased their 
exports by about 16%. It is estimated that about one in 10 African countries experienced a decline 
in their exports, while half of them recorded an export expansion which exceeded the global 
average. South Africa, the region’s largest mercha ndise trader, reported a rise in its imports of 
24% while exports advanced by 13%. 
 Middle Eastern trade has been strongly affected by political and oil market developments. The 
region’s merchandise exports are estimated to have  grown by 19%, roughly in line with crude oil 
prices. Merchandise imports increased by 14% which must be considered a rather moderate increase given the surge in the region’s export earnings and foreign exchange reserves in the past 
years.  
 Among the seven geographic regions distinguis hed in this report, the Commonwealth of 
Independent States (CIS) recorded the most dynamic export and import growth in 2006. 
Benefiting from strong fuel and metal prices on world markets, the region’s exports increased by 
one-quarter last year to $422 billion, more than twice the level recorded only three years ago. 
Imports rose by nearly one-third to $278 billio n, but the region’s merchandise trade surplus 
continued to expand by about $20 billion in 2006.  
South/Central America’s merchandise exports and imports continued to expand faster than world 
trade in 2006 even though their growth was le ss pronounced than in the preceding year. The 
deceleration in the region’s export growth is attributable largely to the performance of the region’s PRESS/472 
Page 12 of 21 
 
 oil exporters and Brazil. Sharply higher prices fo r metals benefited exports from Chile, Jamaica, 
Peru and Suriname. The exports of Chile and Peru surged by more than 40%, the highest export 
growth rates reported in the region in 2006.   
Box: Textiles and clothing trade developments in 2006 
 
In the second year after the phasing out of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, the structural 
changes in world trade of textiles and clothing continued unabatedly. Exporters from developed 
countries and those from advanced developing economies in East Asia are losing market share, 
together with major developing suppliers in Central America and the Mediterranean region, which 
process textiles originating from developed countries. China’s exports continued to gain market 
share in all major developed import markets despite restrictions introduced in 2005. Some smaller 
suppliers expanded their textiles and clothing ex ports even faster than China and the share of 
least-developed countries in imports of the United States and the European Union increased 
sharply in 2006. 
 
The annual expansion rate of textiles and clothing imports from China into Canada, the United 
States and the EU was roughly halved between 2005 and 2006 in each of these three markets. 
The combined textiles imports of the three economies from China rose by 41% in 2005 and is 
estimated to have increased by 15% in 2006. Despite the sharp deceleration this rate is still about 
twice the rate of imports from all sources (with EU intra-trade excluded). These import 
developments suggest that the introduction of quotas in the United States and the EU in the 
course of 2005 had a restrictive effect on textil es imports from China. On the other hand, the 
deceleration in textiles exports from China to Ca nada was about the same as to the United States 
in the absence of any new quotas. The new restrict ions also had no apparent effect on China’s 
overall exports of textiles and clothing to the world, which increased in 2006 by one quarter — 
somewhat faster than in 2005 (21%). 
 
Imports of textiles and clothing of the four major developed markets (incl. Japan) are estimated to 
have increased by 5.5%, to about $350 billion in 2006. This increase was slightly faster than in the 
preceding year despite the deceleration in US import growth, to less than 4%. In contrast to the 
moderate overall import growth, intra-NAFTA textiles (and clothing) trade was declining and that 
of intra-EU(25) stagnated in 2006. US imports from CAFTA members and the Dominican Republic, 
and Sub-Saharan Africa, declined by 7% and 10% respectively. The strongest decline in US 
imports (–14%) was observed for the more advanced economies in Asia (i.e. Hong Kong, China, 
Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea). US imports from the EU (25), which still exceeded 
those from India in 2005, decreased by 2.5% in 2006. 
 
The import decline from these suppliers was balanced by a double digit increase of imports from 
six Asian countries. While imports from China increased by 15% and accounted for nearly 30% of 
total US imports of textiles and clothing, the rise in imports from Indonesia, Viet Nam, Bangladesh 
and Cambodia exceeded that from China. Import s from India, a major supplier to the United 
States, rose 12% in 2006, which was less than the rate recorded by China. 
 
The re-shuffling of EU import shares had similari ties with those of the US market. Some of the 
major traditional suppliers (e.g. Turkey, Romania, Morocco, Tunisia) lost market shares while 
Asian developing countries increased their share. As in the US market, China expanded its role as 
leading supplier, but imports from smaller Asian suppliers tended to rise faster than those from 
China. Rather untypical is the sharp rise of EU  clothing imports from Hong Kong, China in 2006. 
 PRESS/472 
Page 13 of 21 
 
 
Among the developed markets Japan’s textiles and clothing imports are the most concentrated on 
China due both to geographic proximity and the absence of import quotas in the recent past. More 
than three quarters of Japan’s textiles and clothing imports originated from China in 2006. The 
share exceeds 80% for clothing imports. 
 
At nearly 9%, Canada recorded with the strongest rise in textiles and clothing imports of the four 
major developed markets in 2006. Imports from China rose by more than 20%. The structural 
shifts among suppliers observed in 2006 were si milar to those observed in the US market. 
 
Imports of textiles and clothing into major markets by origin, 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage change) 
 
  United States EU(25)  Japan  Canada 
    (Jan-Nov)     
World (value) 106.4 183.6 30.0 11.2 
 Annual Growth 
World 4 6 6 9 
     
China 15 10 8 22 
India 8 13 12 6 
Pakistan 12 12 -7 9 
Bangladesh 22 34 4 19 
Cambodia 25 19 ...  21 
Indonesia 25 19 4 18 
Philippines 9 26 ...  5 
Viet Nam 18 51 6 33 
Thailand 1 11 -2 0 
Sri Lanka 2 24 12 ...  
East Asia(4) -14 33 -5 -12 
     
Sub-Saharan Africa -10 9 ...  ...  
Egypt  32 14 ...  ...  
Morocco 69 3 ...  ...  
Tunisia ...  0 29 —- 
     
CAFTA -7 ...  ...  ...  
Mexico -10 13 6 7 
Canada  -7 6 -7 ...  
United States ...  11 -3 -1 
     
EU(25) -3 1 -2 2 
Romania 15 0 ...  ...  
Bulgaria -18 12 ...  ...  
Turkey -17 4 20 -1 
     
Memorandum items:     
Least-develope d countries 14 30 27 17 
Hong Kong, China ...  67 ...  ...  
     
Note: East Asia(4) comprises Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong  China, Macao China and the Republic of Korea. 
EU(25) imports include intra-trade. 
Source : Global Trade Atlas and Eurostat, COMEXT data base . 
 
 
It is clear from the discussion above that trade expansion in 2006 was very favourable for the developing countries as a group. Their combined merchandise exports rose by 20%, to $4.27 
trillion, and imports rose by 17%. The share of de veloping countries in world merchandise exports 
reached with 36%, an all-time record level. The share of developing countries in world merchandise imports was 31%, the largest share in more than a quarter of a century. For the 
least-developed countries, the expansion of merchandise exports has been even stronger than for 
the developing countries over the last six years, including 2006. Least-developed countries’ exports are estimated to have increased by about 30%, to $108 billion in 2006. Their share in PRESS/472 
Page 14 of 21 
 
 world merchandise exports reached 0.9%, the highest level since 1980 (the first year for which 
records are kept). Merchandise imports rose by 17%, which was far less rapid than merchandise 
exports, leading the least-developed countries as a group to record a trade surplus for the first time. Because of differences in commodity comp osition, individual country performance, and 
relative country size, aggregations such as deve loping countries and least-developed countries are 
increasingly less meaningful for trade analysis (see Appendix Table 1)  
The review of world merchandise trade by leading exporters and importers reconfirms the 
importance of price developments and the outs tanding trade performance of China and India. 
Among the thirty leading merchandise exporters, the eight most dynamic (with export values up 
by more than 20% in 2006) comprise five oil exporters, one metal exporter (Chile) and China and 
India.
11 Moderate and sluggish export value growth of less than 10% was reported by Japan (9%), 
France (6%), Spain (7%) and Ireland (3%). The merchandise imports of these latter countries 
also expanded far less rapidly than the world av erage. The ten leading exporters comprise the 
same countries as the group of the top ten leading importers, and although the annual variation of trade differed markedly between the leading tr aders, the ranking did not change from the 
preceding year, with the single exception of the merchandise imports of the United Kingdom, 
which again surpassed those of Japan (see Appendix Table 3 and 4).  
Since 2000, China has more than doubled its share in world merchandise exports and ranks as the 
third largest exporter and importer in merchandise trade. Despite its strong export expansion, China remained the third largest merchandise expo rter in 2006. However, in the second half of 
2006, China’s merchandise exports exceeded those of the United States for the first time. 
 World commercial services exports rose by 11% to $2.7 trillion in 2006
12. The expansion rate of 
global services trade was basically unchanged from the preceding year and that of the last six 
years. Since 2003, commercial services exports expanded less rapidly each year than merchandise trade. 
 
Among the three broad commercial services categories, transportation, travel and “other commercial services”, the latter is by far the largest and also the fastest growing category. In 
2006, other commercial services categories expanded by 13% while transportation and travel 
services were up by 9% and 7% respectively. In  the 1990s, transportation services expanded less 
rapidly than travel, but since 2000 the situation ha s been reversed. The relatively sluggish growth 
of travel services can be observed in all major exporting regions but is most pronounced in North 
America’s services trade.  
                                              
 
11  Although India is a net-fuel importer it exports large volumes of oil production 
processed from imported crude oil. 
12  Commercial services data are derived from  Balance of Payments statistics which do 
not include the sales of majority-owned foreign affiliates abroad (commercial presence). PRESS/472 
Page 15 of 21 
 
 
Table 3: World exports of commercial servic es trade by major category, 2006  
(Billion dollars and percentage change) 
 
  Value   Annual percentage change 
  2006   2000-06 2004 2005 2006 
       
Commercial services 2710  10 20 11 11 
       
Transport  626  10 25 12 9 Travel  737  7 18 8 7 
Other commercial services 1347  12 19 12 13 
Source : WTO 
 
Commercial services trade by region is presented in Appendix Table 2. Europe and North America, 
recorded — as in the preceding year — export and import growth below the world average. Within 
the European Union services trade developments by  member differed widely: services exports of 
France and Finland are reported to have dec lined, while those of Luxembourg and Poland 
expanded by one-quarter or more.13 The CIS region reports export and import growth rates of 
commercial services of about 20%, the fastest growth of all regions.  
Asia’s commercial services exports continued for th e third consecutive year to expand faster than 
the global average and faster than the region’s services imports, thereby reducing the region’s 
deficit in services trade. Japan, the region’s largest commercial services trader, increased its 
commercial services exports by 12% and its impo rts by 8%. Among the major Asian traders India 
continues to excel in terms of its services trad e expansion. While the dynamic growth of India’s 
commercial — and in particular software services
14 — exports are widely reported, the dynamic 
expansion of its services imports attracts less attention even though the growth rate in 2006 
exceeded that of exports. According to the mo st recent numbers, India’s commercial services 
imports are only about 5% short of its commercial services exports. 
 
The commercial services trade of Africa and the Middle East are provisionally estimated to have expanded close to the world average in 2006. But lim itations in data availability could make these 
estimates subject to larger revisions than for the estimates provided for other regions. 
 The trade performance of the leading commercial serv ices exporter and importer differed widely in 
2006. The shifts in ranking should be interpreted with caution as they might be due to changes in 
methodology, and given the incomplete data of major traders, will be subject to revisions.  
On the basis of the preliminary data, it appears that the three top leading traders, namely the 
United states, the United Kingdom and Germany,  maintained their rank for both exports and 
imports. If the export contraction of France’s commercial services is confirmed, Japan would 
replace it as the world’s fourth largest services exporter. Italy moved ahead of Spain to rank as 
the sixth largest exporter. China’s commercial services exports are estimated to have surpassed 
                                              
 
13   The decline in services exports of Fran ce and Finland are concentrated in the group 
"other commercial services". Economic explanations for this decrease have yet to be identified.  In 
the case of Luxembourg the marked  rise in services exports can be attributed to the strength in 
financial services. 
14  Comprising computer services, IT enabled services and business process 
outsourcing. PRESS/472 
Page 16 of 21 
 
 those of the Netherlands and India, entering the group of the top ten exporters by moving ahead 
of Hong Kong, China.
15 
 On the import side, no change occurred among the top ten positions in 2006. According to the 
provisional data, India’s imports are estimated to have exceeded slightly those of the Republic of 
Korea, even though the latter imports also increased strongly in 2006.
16 
 
                                               
15  At the time of writing (early March 2007)  published information on China's services 
trade is limited to the first half of 2006. 
16  India's services imports are adjusted to include all freight transportation services 
to conform to the standard definitions of  the IMF, Balance of Payments Manual (5th edition). PRESS/472 
Page 17 of 21 
 
 
Appendix Table 1  
World merchandise trade by region and selected country, 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage)  
  Exports   Imports 
 Value  Annual percentage change  Value  Annual percentage change 
  2006   2000-06  2004 2005 2006   2006   2000-06 2004 2005 2006 
              
World 11762  11 22 14 15  12080  11 22 13 14 
North America 1675  5 14 12 13  2546  7 17 14 11 
United States 1037  5 13 11 14  1920  7 17 14 11 Canada 388  6 16 14 8  357  7 14 15 11 Mexico 250  7 14 13 17  268  7 16 13 15 
South and Central 
America 
a  426  14 30 24 20  351  9 28 23 18 
Brazil 137  16 32 23 16  88  7 31 17 14 Other South and Central 
 America 
a  289  13 29 25 22  262  10 27 25 19 
Europe 4957  11 20 9 13  5218  11 20 10 14 
European Union (25) 4527  11 19 8 12  4743  11 20 9 14 
Germany 1112  12 21 7 15  910  11 18 9 17 United Kingdom 443  8 14 11 15  601  10 20 9 17 
France 490  7 15 3 6  533  8 18 7 6 
Italy 410  9 18 5 10  436  11 19 8 13 
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 422  19 36 28 24  278  23 31 25 29 
Russian Federation 305  19 35 33 25  164  24 28 29 31 
Africa 361  16 31 30 21  290  14 28 20 16 
South Africa 58  12 26 12 13  77  17 35 17 24 Africa less South Africa 303  17 32 34 23  213  13 26 22 13 
Oil exporters 
b 212  19 40 46 25  81  18 33 25 18 
Non oil exporters 90  13 20 14 17  131  11 23 20 10 
Middle East 644  16 33 35 19  373  14 31 19 14 
Asia 3276  12 25 16 18  3023  12 27 17 16 
China 969  25 35 28 27  792  23 36 18 20 Japan 647  5 20 5 9  577  7 19 13 12 
India 120  19 30 30 21  174  23 37 41 25 
Four East Asian traders 
c 844  9 25 12 15  787  9 27 13 17 
Memorandum items:              
MERCOSUR  190  14 28 21 16  134  7 38 20 17 ASEAN  771  10 20 15 18  683  10 25 17 14 
EU (25) extra-trade 1480  11 21 11 11  1697  11 21 15 15 
Developing economies 4274  14 27 22 20  3749  13 29 18 17 
Least Developed Countries  108  20 32 36 30  101  15 18 21 17 
a Includes the Caribbean. For composition of groups se e the Technical Notes of WTO, International Trade 
Statistics, 2006. 
b Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Equato rial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan. 
c Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Republic of Korea and Singapore. 
Source : WTO. PRESS/472 
Page 18 of 21 
 
 Appendix Table 2 
World exports of commercial services by region, 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage) 
  Exports   Imports 
 Value  Annual percentage change  Value  Annual percentage change 
 2006  2000-06  2004 2005 2006  2006  2000-06  2004 2005 2006 
World  2710   10 20 11 11   2620   10 19 11 10 
North America  460   6 13 10 9   401   7 15 9 9 
 United States  387   6 14 10 9   307   7 16 9 9 
South and Central America a 77   9 16 18 14   80   7 14 21 14 
 Brazil  18   12 21 28 21   27   9 12 38 20 
Europe  1382   11 20 9 9   1223   10 17 8 8 
 European Union (25)  1247   12 19 9 9   1132   10 16 8 8 
  United Kingdom  223   11 25 5 9   169   10 18 10 6 
  Germany  164   13 17 10 11   214   8 13 4 7 
  France  112   6 11 6 -2   108   10 19 8 3 
  Italy  100   10 18 7 13   101   11 12 9 14 
  Spain  100   12 16 9 8   77   15 24 11 18 
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)  51   20 29 20 21  
 74   21 28 19 19 
 Russian Federation  30   21 26 21 22   45   18 23 18 17 
Africa  64   13 21 12 12   80   13 23 21 12 
 Egypt  16   9 30 3 10   10   6 24 27 9 
 South Africa  12   16 16 15 8   14   16 28 18 17 
Middle East  63   11 16 14 9   96   12 23 19 10 
 Israel  19   4 21 10 9   15   4 15 7 8 
Asia  614   12 27 14 15   666   10 24 12 14 
 Japan  121   9 25 14 12   143   4 21 2 8 
 China  87   ... 34 19 ...   100   ... 31 16 ... 
 India  73   ... ... ... 34   70   ... ... ... 40 
 Four East Asian traders b 208   10 22 9 14   197   10 23 10 12 
a Includes the Caribbean. For composition of groups see the Technical Notes of WTO, International Trade 
Statistics, 2006. 
b Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Republic of Korea and Singapore. 
Note: While provisional full year data were available in early March for 33 countries accounting for more than 
60% of world commercial services trade, estimates for most other countries are ba sed on data for the first 
three quarters (the first six mo nths in the case of China). 
Source : WTO. 
 PRESS/472 
Page 19 of 21 
 
 
Appendix Table 3 
Leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade, 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage) 
Rank  Exporters  Value Share  Annual 
% 
change    Rank  Importers  Value  Share  Annual 
% 
change  
1 Germany 1112 9.2 15  1 United States 1920 15.5 11 
2 United States 1037 8.6 14  2 Germany 910 7.4 17 3 China 969 8.0 27  3 China 792 6.4 20 
4 Japan 647 5.4 9  4 United Kingdom 601 4.9 17 
5 France 490 4.1 6  5 Japan 577 4.7 12 6 Netherlands 462 3.8 14  6 France 533 4.3 6 7 United Kingdom 443 3.7 15  7 Italy 436 3.5 13 
8 Italy 410 3.4 10  8 Netherlands 416 3.4 14 
9 Canada 388 3.2 8  9 Canada 357 2.9 11 
10 Belgium 372 3.1 11  10 Belgium 356 2.9 12 
           
11 Korea, Republic of 326 2.7 15  11 Hong Kong, China 336 2.7 12 
        retained imports 
a, b 36 0.3 ... 
12 Hong Kong, China 323 2.7 10  12 Spain 319 2.6 10 
  domestic exports b 23 0.2 ...       
  re-exports b 300 2.5 ...       
13 Russian Federation 305 2.5 25  13 Korea, Republic of 309 2.5 18 
14 Singapore 272 2.3 18  14 Mexico b 268 2.2 15 
  domestic exports 143 1.2 15         re-exports 129 1.1 22       
15 Mexico 250 2.1 17  15 Singapore 239 1.9 19 
        retained imports 
a 110 0.9 16 
16 Taipei, Chinese 224 1.9 13  16 Taipei, Chinese 203 1.6 11 17 Saudi Arabia 
b 209 1.7 16  17 India 174 1.4 25 
18 Spain 206 1.7 7  18 Russian Federation c 164 1.3 31 
19 Malaysia 161 1.3 14  19 Switzerland 141 1.1 12 
20 Switzerland 147 1.2 13  20 Australia b 140 1.1 11 
           
21 Sweden 147 1.2 13  21 Austria 139 1.1 9 22 United Arab Emirates 139 1.2 21  22 Turkey 137 1.1 17 23 Austria 138 1.1 11  23 Malaysia 131 1.1 14 
24 Brazil 137 1.1 16  24 Thailand 129 1.0 9 
25 Thailand 131 1.1 19  25 Sweden 126 1.0 13 26 Australia 123 1.0 16  26 Poland 124 1.0 22 27 Norway 122 1.0 17  27 United Arab Emirates 
b 95 0.8 17 
28 India 120 1.0 21  28 Czech Republic 93 0.8 22 
29 Ireland 113 0.9 3  29 Brazil 88 0.7 14 30 Poland 110 0.9 23  30 Denmark 86 0.7 14 
 Total of above 
d 10033 83.2 -   Total of above d 10340 83.5 - 
 World d 12062 100.0 15   World d 12380 100.0 14 
a Retained imports are define d as imports less re-exports. 
b Secretariat estimates. 
c Imports are valued f.o.b. 
d Includes significant re-expor ts or imports for re-export. 
Source: WTO. PRESS/472 
Page 20 of 21 
 
 
Appendix Table 4 
Leading exporters and importers in world me rchandise trade (excluding intra-EU(25) 
trade), 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage) 
Rank  Exporters  Value  Share  Annual 
% 
change  Rank  Importers  Value  Share Annual 
% 
change  
1 Extra-EU (25) exports 1480 16.4 11 1 United States 1920 20.6 11 
2 United States 1037 11.5 14 2 Extra-EU (25) imports 1697 18.2 15 3 China 969 10.7 27 3 China 792 8.5 20 4 Japan 647 7.2 9 4 Japan 577 6.2 12 
5 Canada 388 4.3 8 5 Canada 357 3.8 11 
6 Korea, Republic of 326 3.6 15 6 Hong Kong, China 336 3.6 12 
       retained imports 
a, b 36 0.4 ... 
7 Hong Kong, China 323 3.6 10 7 Korea, Republic of 309 3.3 18 
  domestic exports b 23 0.3 ...      
  re-exports b 300 3.3 ...      
8 Russian Federation 305 3.4 25 8 Mexico b 268 2.9 15 
9 Singapore 272 3.0 18 9 Singapore 239 2.6 19 
  domestic exports 143 1.6 15   retained imports a 110 1.2 16 
  re-exports 129 1.4 22      
10 Mexico 250 2.8 17 10 Taipei, Chinese 203 2.2 11 
          
11 Taipei, Chinese 224 2.5 13 11 India 174 1.9 25 12 Saudi Arabia 
b 209 2.3 16 12 Russian Federation c 164 1.8 31 
13 Malaysia 161 1.8 14 13 Switzerland 141 1.5 12 
14 Switzerland 147 1.6 13 14 Australia b 140 1.5 11 
15 United Arab Emirates 139 1.5 21 15 Turkey 137 1.5 17 16 Brazil 137 1.5 16 16 Malaysia 131 1.4 14 17 Thailand 131 1.4 19 17 Thailand 129 1.4 9 
18 Australia 123 1.4 16 18 United Arab Emirates 
b 95 1.0 17 
19 Norway 122 1.3 17 19 Brazil 88 0.9 14 20 India 120 1.3 21 20 Indonesia 78 0.8 5 
          
21 Indonesia 104 1.2 21 21 South Africa 
b 77 0.8 24 
22 Turkey 85 0.9 16 22 Saudi Arabia b 65 0.7 9 
23 Iran, Islamic Rep. of b 75 0.8 34 23 Norway 64 0.7 15 
24 Bolivarian Rep. of 
Venezuela b 63 0.7 14 24 Philippines b, c 52 0.6 10 
25 Chile 59 0.7 45 25 Romania 51 0.5 26 
26 South Africa 58 0.6 13 26 Iran, Islamic Rep. of b 51 0.5 34 
27 Kuwait b 54 0.6 21 27 Israel b 50 0.5 6 
28 Algeria 53 0.6 15 28 Ukraine 45 0.5 25 29 Nigeria 
b 52 0.6 23 29 Viet Nam 44 0.5 20 
30 Philippines 47 0.5 14 30 Chile 38 0.4 18 
 Total of above d 8160 90.5 -  Total of above d 8513 91.2 - 
 World (excl. intra-EU (25))d 9015 100.0 16  World (excl. intra-EU (25))d 9333 100.0 15 
a Retained imports are defined as imports less re-exports   
b Secretariat estimates. 
c Imports are valued f.o.b. 
d Includes significant re-expor ts or imports for re-export. 
Source : WTO. PRESS/472 
Page 21 of 21 
 
 
Appendix Table 5 
Leading exporters and importers in world commercial services trade, 2006 
(Billion dollars and percentage)  
        Annual         Annual 
Rank Exporters Value Share % Rank Importers Value Share % 
    change     change 
1 United States  387 14.3 9 1 United States  307 11.7 9 
2 United Kingdom  223 8.2 9 2 Germany  215 8.2 7 
3 Germany  164 6.1 11 3 United Kingdom  169 6.5 6 
4 Japan  121 4.5 12 4 Japan  143 5.5 8 
5 France  112 4.1 -2 5 France  108 4.1 3 6 Italy  101 3.7 13 6 Italy  101 3.9 14 7 Spain  100 3.7 8 7 China  100 3.8 ... 
8 China  87 3.2 ... 8 Netherlands  78 3.0 7 
9 Netherlands  82 3.0 4 9 Ireland  77 3.0 11 
10 India  73 2.7 34 10 Spain  77 2.9 18 
          
11 Hong Kong, China  71 2.6 15 11 Canada  72 2.7 12 
12 Ireland  67 2.5 17 12 India  70 2.7 40 
13 Singapore  57 2.1 12 13 Korea, Republic of  69 2.7 20 14 Belgium  57 2.1 7 14 Singapore  61 2.3 12 15 Canada  56 2.1 7 15 Belgium  54 2.0 6 16 Korea, Republic of  51 1.9 16 16 Russian Federation 
 45 1.7 17 
17 Denmark  50 1.9 19 17 Denmark  44 1.7 17 
18 Luxembourg  50 1.9 25 18 Austria  40 1.5 ... 19 Austria  50 1.8 ... 19 Sweden  39 1.5 12 20 Sweden  50 1.8 17 20 Hong Kong, China  35 1.3 7 
          
21 Switzerland  50 1.8 8 21 Taipei, Chinese  33 1.2 3 22 Greece  36 1.3 5 22 Thailand  32 1.2 18 23 Australia  32 1.2 6 23 Australia  32 1.2 6 24 Norway  32 1.2 10 24 Norway  31 1.2 7 
25 Russian Federation 
 30 1.1 22 25 Luxembourg  31 1.2 23 
26 Taipei, Chinese  29 1.1 13 26 Switzerland  27 1.0 5 27 Thailand  24 0.9 18 27 Brazil  27 1.0 20 28 Turkey  24 0.9 -8 28 Indonesia  27 1.0 ... 29 Poland  21 0.8 28 29 Malaysia  23 0.9 6 
30 Malaysia  21 0.8 5 30 Mexico  23 0.9 8 
 Total of above  2305 85.1 -  Total of above  2185 83.5 - 
 World  2710 100.0 11  World  2620 100.0 10 
Note: While provisional full year data were available in early March for 33 countries accounting for more than 
60% of world commercial services trade, estimates for most other countries are ba sed on data for the first 
three quarters (the first six mo nths in the case of China). 
Source : WTO 
 
 
 
END