An update report published by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on trade among 97 world economies shows a decline in total trade in goods by 14 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019.
According to the report, imports and exports of medical goods increased by 16 percent, much higher than the 2 percent growth registered in the first half of 2019. This surge in growth registered as high as $1.139 trillion in trade of medical products. Furthermore, these figures correspond to a 7.5 percent share of world trade for the same period and more than the 5.3 percent share in 2019.
This statistics of the WTO also indicate that other components of trade in medical products skyrocketed; trade in protective products grew 50.3 percent, followed by medicines (11.6 percent), medical supplies (9.6 percent) and medical equipment (5.5 percent).
Trade in products considered critical in the COVID-19 pandemic response grew rapidly in the first half of 2020 with a year-on-year increase of 29 percent (imports and exports increased by 31 percent and 27 percent, respectively). Total trade for these products in the first half of 2020 alone, valued at US$381 billion, was equivalent to 63 percent of trade in the full year of 2019.
Again, among these critical products, imports of face masks almost doubled, with a 90 percent year-on-year increase from US$ 39 billion to US$ 74 billion in the first half of 2020 while exports increased by 84 percent, from US$38 billion to US$70 billion. Total trade of face masks was worth US$140 billion.
Also, trade in respirators also grew rapidly, by 57 percent, although the value of this trade amounted to only US$ 13 billion, equivalent to just over 1 percent of trade in all traded medical goods. Exports of hand sanitizer and hand soap increased by about 2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020, relatively modest growth that may be attributable to the fact that increased demand was being primarily met by domestic production.
According to the report, China was the top supplier of face masks, accounting for 56 percent of world exports. To ramp up masks manufacturing, China leaned heavily on imports of immediate input of 2019, with Japan and the United States as the leading suppliers. China was also the sixth-largest importer of face masks in the first half of 2020.
“The value of Chinese exports of COVID-19-critical products tripled, based on year-on-year first half of the year data, from US$18 billion to US$55 billion. The share in world exports of these products more than doubled, from 12 percent in the first half of 2019 to 29 percent in the first half of 2020. As a result, while other exporters in the top ten saw export revenues rise, their share of total global trade decreased.
