La WTO prevede una crescita del 7% del commercio mondiale nel 2006

Lo scorso anno il commercio mondiale ha registrato un crescita del 6% del volume delle merci scambiate (nel 2004 vi fu un aumento del 9%). I dati diffusi oggi dalla World Trade Organization (WTO) indicano un ristagno del commercio internazionale all'inizio del 2005 seguito da una ripresa alla fine dell'anno. Una ripresa che però potrebbe non concretizzarsi in una crescita stabile nel 2006. Infatti - secondo la WTO - lo scenario per quest'anno è ricco di incertezze, in particolare in Europa. Per il 2006 l'organizzazione mondiale del commercio prevede comunque un incremento del 7% del traffico internazionale delle merci ed un aumento del 3,5% dell'economia mondiale.

«Il sistema globale degli scambi - ha detto il direttore generale della WTO, Pascal Lamy - sta attraversando un periodo di transizione. Il mutamento delle circostanze economiche, i principali passi avanti nel settore tecnologico e l'emergere di nuovi attori sulla scena globale, tutto ciò sottolinea che siamo al culmine di notevoli cambiamenti. Il persistere di squilibri, determinati principalmente da fattori macroeconomici, continuano ad essere causa di preoccupazione in alcune principali economie. In questo clima di incertezza una cosa è certa: i membri dei governi devono rafforzare il sistema del commercio globale rendendolo più giusto e di rilievo per coloro che fanno del commercio nel ventunesimo secolo. Non ci può essere alcun dubbio che il miglior modo di far ciò sia di concludere quest'anno un ambizioso accordo nel Doha Round delle trattative sul commercio globale».

GDP and merchandise trade by region, 2004-05
Annual percentage at constant prices

	GDP		Exports		Imports
	2004	2005	2004	2005	2004	2005
North America	4.1	3.4	8.0	6.0	10.5	6.5
United States	4.2	3.5	8.5	7.0	11.0	5.5
South and Central America ^a	6.8	4.9	12.5	10.0	18.5	14.0
Europe	2.3	1.7	7.0	3.5	7.0	3.0
European Union (25)	2.2	1.6	7.0	3.5	6.0	2.5
Commonwealth of Independent States	8.0	6.6	13.0	4.5	16.0	16.5
Africa and Middle East	5.7	4.5	7.0	7.5	13.5	12.0
Asia	4.2	4.2	14.0	9.5	14.0	7.5
China	10.1	9.9	24.0	25.0	21.5	11.5
Japan ^b	2.3	2.8	10.5	1.0	7.0	2.5
World	3.9	3.3	9.5	6.0	'	'

a. Including the Caribbean.
b. Trade volume data are based on Japan's customs statistics. National account data report a markedly stronger export and import growth in 2005.
Source: WTO.

World exports of merchandise and commercial services, 2005
Billion dollars and percentage

	Value	Annual percentage change
	2005	2000-05	2003	2004	2005
Merchandise	10120	10	17	21	13
Commercial services	2415	10	15	19	11

Source: WTO

World merchandise trade by region and selected country, 2005
(Billion dollars and percentage.)

	Exports					Imports
	Value	Annual percentage change				Value	Annual percentage change
	2005	2000-05	2003	2004	2005	2005	2000-05	2003	2004	2005
World	10121	10	17	21	13	10481	10	17	22	13
North America	1478	4	5	14	12	2285	6	8	16	14
United States	904	3	5	13	10	1733	7	9	17	14
Canada	360	5	8	16	14	320	6	8	14	14
Mexico	214	5	3	14	14	232	5	1	15	12
South and Central America a	351	13	15	29	25	294	7	6	28	22
Brazil	118	17	21	32	23	78	6	3	31	17
Other South and Central America a	232	11	12	28	26	216	8	7	27	24
Europe	4353	11	19	20	8	4521	10	20	20	9
European Union (25)	3988	10	19	19	7	4120	10	20	20	8
Germany	971	12	22	21	7	774	9	23	18	8
France	459	7	18	15	2	496	8	21	18	5
United Kingdom	378	6	9	14	9	501	8	13	20	6
Italy	367	9	18	18	4	380	10	20	19	7
Other Western Europe ^b	233	10	14	18	14	182	8	15	16	10
Switzerland	126	9	15	18	6	121	8	15	16	9
South-East Europe ^b	132	21	29	34	17	219	19	33	36	18
CIS	342	19	27	36	29	216	21	27	31	25
Russian Federation	245	18	27	35	34	125	23	25	28	28
Africa	296	15	26	30	29	248	14	21	29	16
South Africa	52	12	23	26	13	67	17	40	39	16
Africa less South Africa	244	16	26	31	33	181	13	16	26	16
Oil exporters ^c	166	18	33	41	45	63	17	17	34	17
Non oil exporters	78	11	18	18	12	118	11	15	22	16
Middle East	529	15	20	30	36	318	15	15	26	19
Asia	2773	11	19	25	15	2599	12	20	27	16
Japan	596	4	13	20	5	516	6	14	19	14
China	762	25	35	35	28	660	24	40	36	18
Four East Asian traders ^d	731	9	19	25	12	676	8	15	27	14
India	90	16	16	33	19	132	21	26	37	35
Memorandum items:
MERCOSUR (4)	163	14	19	28	20	113	5	11	38	18
ASEAN (10)	653	9	16	20	14	593	9	13	25	16
EU (25) extra-trade	1328	11	17	21	10	1460	10	19	21	14
EU (15)	3679	10	19	18	6	'	'	'	'	'
EU (new members, 10)	309	20	29	34	16	'	'	'	'	'
Developing economies	3443	13	19	27	22	3024	12	17	28	17
Developing Asia	2050	13	21	27	18	1932	13	22	30	17

a. Includes the Caribbean.
b. For composition of the group see the Technical Notes of WTO, International Trade Statistics, 2005.
c. Algeria, Angola, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan.
d. Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, Republic of Korea, and Singapore.
Source: WTO.

World trade of commercial services by region and selected country, 2005
(Billion dollars and percentage.)

	Exports					Imports
	Value	Annual percentage change				Value	Annual percentage change
	2005	2000-05	2003	2004	2005	2005	2000-05	2003	2004	2005
World	2415	10	15	19	11	2361	10	14	18	11
North America	420	5	5	11	10	373	7	8	15	10
United States	353	5	5	11	10	289	7	8	15	10
Canada	51	5	7	11	9	62	7	14	13	10
Mexico	16	3	0	12	12	22	5	3	10	12
South and Central America a	68	8	10	16	20	70	5	4	14	22
Brazil	15	11	9	21	28	22	7	6	12	38
Other South and Central America a	53	7	10	14	17	48	4	3	15	15
Europe	1233	11	19	19	7	1119	11	19	16	8
European Union (25)	1104	11	19	19	7	1034	10	19	16	7
Germany	143	12	20	15	7	199	8	19	13	4
United Kingdom	183	9	15	23	-1	150	9	13	20	4
France	114	7	15	12	4	103	11	20	18	7
Italy	93	11	19	17	13	92	11	20	10	15
Other Western Europe ^b	77	11	16	23	12	57	13	15	23	14
Switzerland	45	10	15	24	9	25	10	11	25	7
South-East Europe ^b	52	12	35	23	15	29	13	27	30	19
CIS	40	18	16	23	20	58	20	17	24	18
Russian Federation	24	20	20	25	20	38	18	16	23	15
Africa	57	13	26	20	12	66	12	16	19	15
South Africa	10	16	69	14	17	12	16	52	26	19
Middle East	54	11	27	14	12	80	11	19	20	11
Asia	543	12	10	26	19	595	10	10	25	15
Japan	107	8	8	25	12	136	3	3	22	1
China	81	22	18	34	31	85	19	19	31	19
Four East Asian traders ^c	175	8	9	18	9	165	8	8	21	10
India	68	33	21	66	76	67	29	23	53	73
Memorandum items:
MERCOSUR (4)	23	8	13	21	25	31	4	8	15	32
ASEAN (10)	104	8	2	22	10	132	9	9	21	14

a. Includes the Caribbean.
b. For composition of country groups see the Technical Notes of WTO, International Trade Statistics, 2005.
c. Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Republic of Korea and Singapore.
Source: WTO.

Leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade, 2005
(Billion dollars and percentage.)

Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Exporters	Value	Share	Annual % change	Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Importers	Value	Share	Annual % change
1	(1)	Germany	970.7	9.3	7	1	(1)	United States	1732.7	16.1	14
2	(2)	United States	904.3	8.7	10	2	(2)	Germany	774.1	7.2	8
3	(3)	China	762.0	7.3	28	3	(3)	China	660.1	6.1	18
4	(4)	Japan	595.8	5.7	5	4	(6)	Japan	516.1	4.8	14
5	(5)	France	459.2	4.4	2	5	(5)	United Kingdom	501.2	4.7	6
6	(6)	Netherlands	401.3	3.9	12	6	(4)	France	495.8	4.6	5
7	(8)	United Kingdom	377.9	3.6	9	7	(7)	Italy	379.7	3.5	7
8	(7)	Italy	366.8	3.5	4	8	(8)	Netherlands	357.9	3.3	12
9	(9)	Canada	359.6	3.5	14	9	(9)	Belgium	320.4	3.0	12
10	(10)	Belgium	329.6	3.2	7	10	(10)	Canada	320.1	3.0	14
11	(11)	Hong Kong, China	292.3	2.8	10	11	(11)	Hong Kong, China	300.6	2.8	10
		domestic exports	20.3	0.2	2			retained imports a	28.6	0.3	5
		re-exports	272.0	2.6	11
12	(12)	Korea, Republic of	284.7	2.7	12	12	(12)	Spain	277.6	2.6	7
13	(15)	Russian Federation	245.3	2.4	34	13	(13)	Korea, Republic of	261.0	2.4	16
14	(13)	Singapore	229.6	2.2	16	14	(14)	Mexico	231.7	2.2	12
		domestic exports	124.5	1.2	17
		re-exports	105.1	1.0	14
15	(14)	Mexico	213.7	2.1	14	15	(15)	Singapore	200.0	1.9	15
								retained imports ^a	94.9	0.9	16
16	(17)	Taipei, Chinese	196.6	1.9	8	16	(16)	Taipei, Chinese	185.9	1.7	10
17	(16)	Spain	186.1	1.8	2	17	(24)	India	131.6	1.2	35
18	(19)	Saudi Arabia^b	178.8	1.7	42	18	(19)	Australia	125.3	1.2	15
19	(18)	Malaysia	140.9	1.4	11	19	(23)	Russian Federation ^c	125.1	1.2	28
20	(20)	Sweden	129.9	1.3	5	20	(17)	Austria	124.7	1.2	4
21	(21)	Switzerland	125.9	1.2	6	21	(18)	Switzerland	121.2	1.1	9
22	(22)	Austria	123.3	1.2	4	22	(25)	Thailand	118.2	1.1	25
23	(24)	Brazil	118.3	1.1	23	23	(22)	Turkey	116.4	1.1	19
24	(27)	United Arab Emirates ^b	112.5	1.1	36	24	(20)	Malaysia	114.6	1.1	9
25	(25)	Thailand	110.1	1.1	14	25	(21)	Sweden	110.6	1.0	10
26	(23)	Ireland	109.5	1.1	5	26	(26)	Poland	100.5	0.9	12
27	(26)	Australia	105.8	1.0	22	27	(29)	Brazil	77.6	0.7	17
28	(28)	Norway	103.3	1.0	25	28	(30)	United Arab Emirates ^b	77.0	0.7	25
29	(30)	India	89.8	0.9	19	29	(27)	Czech Republic ^c	76.9	0.7	10
30	(31)	Poland	88.9	0.9	19	30	(28)	Denmark	76.5	0.7	12
		Total of above d	8712.7	83.8	-			Total of above d	9011.1	83.8	-
		World d	10393.1	100.0	13			World d	10753.1	100.0	13

a. Retained imports are defined as imports less re-exports.
b. Secretariat estimates.
c. Imports are valued f.o.b.
d. Includes significant re-exports or imports for re-export.
Source: WTO.

Leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade (excluding intra-EU (25) trade), 2005
(Billion dollars and percentage.)

Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Exporters	Value	Share	Annual % change	Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Importers	Value	Share	Annual % change
1	(1)	Extra-EU (25) exports	1327.8	17.2	10	1	(1)	United States	1732.7	21.4	14
2	(2)	United States	904.3	11.7	10	2	(2)	Extra-EU (25) imports	1460.2	18.0	14
3	(3)	China	762.0	9.9	28	3	(3)	China	660.1	8.2	18
4	(4)	Japan	595.8	7.7	5	4	(4)	Japan	516.1	6.4	14
5	(5)	Canada	359.6	4.6	14	5	(5)	Canada	320.1	4.0	14
6	(6)	Hong Kong, China	292.3	3.8	10	6	(6)	Hong Kong, China	300.6	3.7	10
		domestic exports	20.3	0.3	2			retained imports ^a	28.6	0.4	5
		re-exports	272.0	3.5	11
7	(7)	Korea, Republic of	284.7	3.7	12	7	(7)	Korea, Republic of	261.0	3.2	16
8	(10)	Russian Federation	245.3	3.2	34	8	(8)	Mexico	231.7	2.9	12
9	(8)	Singapore	229.6	3.0	16	9	(9)	Singapore	200.0	2.5	15
		domestic exports	124.5	1.6	17			retained imports ^a	94.9	1.2	16
		re-exports	105.1	1.4	14
10	(9)	Mexico	213.7	2.8	14	10	(10)	Taipei, Chinese	185.9	2.3	10
11	(11)	Taipei, Chinese	196.6	2.5	8	11	(16)	India	131.6	1.6	35
12	(13)	Saudi Arabia ^b	178.8	2.3	42	12	(12)	Australia	125.3	1.5	15
13	(12)	Malaysia	140.9	1.8	11	13	(15)	Russian Federation ^c	125.1	1.5	28
14	(14)	Switzerland	125.9	1.6	6	14	(11)	Switzerland	121.2	1.5	9
15	(15)	Brazil	118.3	1.5	23	15	(17)	Thailand	118.2	1.5	25
16	(18)	United Arab Emirates ^b	112.5	1.5	36	16	(14)	Turkey	116.4	1.4	19
17	(16)	Thailand	110.1	1.4	14	17	(13)	Malaysia	114.6	1.4	9
18	(17)	Australia	105.8	1.4	22	18	(18)	Brazil	77.6	1.0	17
19	(19)	Norway	103.3	1.3	25	19	(19)	United Arab Emirates ^b	77.0	1.0	25
20	(20)	India	89.8	1.2	19	20	(21)	Indonesia	68.7	0.8	25
21	(21)	Indonesia	86.3	1.1	20	21	(20)	South Africa	66.5	0.8	16
22	(22)	Turkey	73.3	0.9	16	22	(23)	Saudi Arabia ^b	56.1	0.7	26
23	(24)	Iran, Islamic Rep. of ^b	58.4	0.8	32	23	(22)	Norway	54.9	0.7	13
24	(26)	Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela	56.2	0.7	45	24	(24)	Israel	46.9	0.6	9
25	(23)	South Africa	51.9	0.7	13	25	(25)	Philippines	46.3	0.6	9
26	(31)	Algeria	44.4	0.6	42	26	(26)	Iran, Islamic Rep. of ^b	41.6	0.5	18
27	(33)	Kuwait	44.0	0.6	54	27	(27)	Romania	40.5	0.5	24
28	(32)	Nigeria ^b	43.5	0.6	40	28	(28)	Viet Nam	36.9	0.5	15
29	(27)	Israel	42.6	0.6	10	29	(29)	Ukraine	36.1	0.4	25
30	(25)	Philippines	41.2	0.5	4	30	(30)	Chile	32.5	0.4	31
		Total of above d	7038.9	91.0	-			Total of above	7402.4	91.5	-
		World (excl. intra-EU (25)) d	7733.3	100.0	16			World (excl. intra-EU (25)) d	8093.3	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-exports or imports for re-export.
Source: WTO.

Leading exporters and importers in world trade in commercial services, 2005
(Billion dollars and percentage.)

Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Exporters	Value	Share	Annual % change	Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Importers	Value	Share	Annual % change
1	(1)	United States	353.3	14.6	10	1	(1)	United States	288.7	12.2	10
2	(2)	United Kingdom	183.4	7.6	-1	2	(2)	Germany	198.6	8.4	4
3	(3)	Germany	142.9	5.9	7	3	(3)	United Kingdom	150.1	6.4	4
4	(4)	France	113.7	4.7	4	4	(4)	Japan	135.9	5.8	1
5	(5)	Japan	106.6	4.4	12	5	(5)	France	102.9	4.4	7
6	(7)	Italy	93.4	3.9	13	6	(6)	Italy	92.3	3.9	15
7	(6)	Spain	91.2	3.8	8	7	(8)	China	85.3	3.6	'
8	(9)	China	81.2	3.4	'	8	(7)	Netherlands	69.2	2.9	1
9	(8)	Netherlands	75.0	3.1	4	9	(9)	Ireland	67.5	2.9	5
10	(16)	India	67.6	2.8	'	10	(15)	India	67.4	2.9	'
11	(10)	Hong Kong, China	60.3	2.5	11	11	(11)	Spain	65.3	2.8	15
12	(13)	Ireland	54.7	2.3	5	12	(10)	Canada	62.3	2.6	10
13	(12)	Austria	53.8	2.2	11	13	(12)	Korea, Republic of	58.0	2.5	17
14	(11)	Belgium	53.4	2.2	6	14	(14)	Austria	51.7	2.2	12
15	(14)	Canada	50.6	2.1	9	15	(13)	Belgium	51.2	2.2	6
16	(18)	Switzerland	45.2	1.9	9	16	(16)	Singapore	44.0	1.9	9
17	(19)	Singapore	45.1	1.9	10	17	(19)	Russian Federation	37.6	1.6	15
18	(15)	Korea, Republic of	43.5	1.8	9	18	(17)	Denmark ^a	36.0	1.5	'
19	(17)	Sweden	42.8	1.8	12	19	(18)	Sweden	35.2	1.5	7
20	(22)	Luxembourg	39.6	1.6	20	20	(21)	Hong Kong, China	31.6	1.3	5
		Total of above	1795.0	74.4	-			Total of above	1730.0	73.3	-
		World	2415.0	100.0	11			World	2360.0	100.0	11

a. Secretariat estimate.
Note: Figures for a number of countries and territories have been estimated by the Secretariat. Annual percentage changes and rankings are affected by continuity breaks in the series for a large number of economies, and by limitations in cross-country comparability.
Source: WTO.