World exports $18 trillion merchandises in 2012 – Report

A new UN trade report has disclosed that the world exported $18 trillion worth of merchandises in 2012.

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), world merchandise exports have more than tripled over thelast two decades.

In its Handbook of Statistics 2013 which was released December 17, 2013, the UN agency indicated that aquarter of the trade comprised exports among developing countries – so-called“South-South” trade — which reached a record $4.7 trillion.

The Handbook observed that the total of developing economies’ exports now account for 45% of the world total,with half of the increase in global exports between 1995 and 2012 accounted for bydeveloping countries.

“The share of South-South trade in total world exports has doubled over the last 20years, to over 25%,” it said.

UNCTAD added “fuels and manufactured goods now account for roughly 25% and 58% of South-South trade, respectively.”

The Handbook reported that leastdeveloped countries (LDCs) in Africa climbed significantly in value over the figurefor 1995 with the continent’s LDCs increasingly benefited from commercial exchanges withdeveloping Asia.

By Ekow Quandzie