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Law360 (December 4, 2020, 6:46 PM EST) -- A surge in shipments of electronics, textiles and automotive products has fueled a slight uptick in global trade in recent months, the World Trade Organization reported Friday, while cautioning that global commerce is still lagging far behind pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics released by the WTO for the third quarter of 2020 showed that global trade in manufactured goods was down 5% from the same period last year. By comparison, the second quarter's trade figures were down 19% from 2019. The global trade body attributed the recovery to increased production and a relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown measures late in the summer.
Rebounds in trade of car parts, telecommunications equipment and clothing were the main drivers of the momentary rebound. All those sectors remain lagging behind their 2019 levels, but showed significant improvement from the second quarter's more dire figures.
"These figures are broadly consistent with the WTO's most recent trade forecast ... which projected a 9.2% decline in the volume of world merchandise trade in 2020," the trade body said in its statement accompanying the new third-quarter data.
The figures also showed that after growing at an average rate of 10% in the first half of 2020, pharmaceutical trade actually slipped by 1% during the third quarter.
"This appears to indicate an end to stockpiling, particularly in Europe, where COVID-19 cases dropped significantly over the summer," the WTO said.
Unsurprisingly, trade in personal protective equipment continued to surge, up 63% from 2019 during the third quarter, according to Geneva's data, with trade in face masks up 102%.
The WTO initially forecasted as much as a 32% drop in overall global trade as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While subsequent updates have painted a somewhat rosier picture, the organization has nevertheless stressed that challenges remain, particularly in the area of trade in services.
WTO data shows that overall trade in services remain "severely depressed," down 17% from last year during the month of September after a 23% downturn in July and a 22% dip in August. The world's largest economies, the U.S. and China, have been particularly snakebit in the services sector.
"In September, services exports from the United States were 27% below pre-pandemic levels, while China's services imports were down by 18% year-on-year," the WTO said. "The resurgence of COVID-19 in the autumn has put recovery on hold."
--Editing by Ellen Johnson.
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