2. World Trade by regions

In 2004, the value of world merchandise trade rose by nearly 21%, the highest growth rate in 25 years (WTO, 2005a), amounting to nearly USD 8.9 trillion. Taking account of dollar price changes, real world merchandise trade expanded by 9% in 2004, almost doubling from 5% in 2003. It continues to grow more rapidly than global Gross Domestic Products (GDP). For example, world trade grew at nearly 6% on average in 1994-2004, while global GDP at market exchange rates grew less than 3% in the same period. In the meantime, a number of new trends in international trade have been observed over recent years. Here we can see the Export and Import of merchandise in various countries in value and percentage :

	Exports						Imports
	value	Annual % change					value	Annual % change
	2004	95-00	01	02	03	04	2004	95-00	01	02	03	04
World	8880	5	-4	5	17	21	9215	5	-4	4	16	21
US	819	6	-6	-5	4	13	1526	10	-6	2	8	17
Canada	322	8	-6	-3	8	18	276	8	-7	0	8	13
Mexico	189	16	-5	1	3	14	206	19	-4	0	1	16
Brazil	96	3	6	4	21	32	66	2	0	-15	2	30
Europe	4042	2	1	7	19	19	4133	4	-2	5	20	20
EU (25)	3708	2	1	7	19	19	3784	4	-1	5	20	19
Germany	915	1	4	8	22	22	717	1	-2	1	23	19
France	415	2	-1	3	18	15	464	3	-3	0	21	16
UK	346	4	-4	3	9	13	462	5	-3	4	13	18
Italy	346	1	2	4	18	16	349	3	-1	5	20	17
Russia	183	5	-2	4	27	35	95	-6	20	12	23	28
Africa	228	6	-6	3	23	31	207	0	4	1	22	25
S.Africa	46	1	-2	2	23	26	55	-1	-5	4	40	34
Oil Ex.	113	12	-13	1	27	41	52	0	20	-5	21	32
M.East	379	12	-11	5	21	26	243	4	6	4	13	23
Asia	2385	5	-9	8	18	25	2214	3	-7	6	19	27

1.Table. source: WTO, World merchandise trade by region and selected country, 2004

According to the table made by the WTO organization it shows that in overall worlds imports value is greater than its Export and during the year 1995-2004 both import and export had a positive percentage that means both of them had an increased function. Meanwhile countries like US, Mexico, European countries, had an increase in their import by the year 2004 cause these countries are the developed countries that’s why their consumption is greater so therfore their imports value are bigger than their export although they themselves are more productive countries, besides countries like Russia, African and Asian countries had a the approximately the equal value of Export and Import but overall we can conclude that from the year 1995-2004 the percentage of Import and Export had a positive slope.[6,2-3]

There are some new trends in International trade that are as follow:

Trade in agricultural and manufactured goods: Manufactured goods, excluding mining products, recorded above average growth in world merchandise trade during the past two decades As a result, they accounted for around three-quarters of world merchandise trade in 2003. By contrast, the share of agricultural goods trade remained at around 9% in the three preceding years, which represented approximately 2% below the average level in the 1990s. One of the notable trends is that processed agricultural goods have become

more important within trade in agricultural goods over the past decade. They accounted for 48% of global trade in agricultural goods in 2001-2, rising from 42% in 1990-1. This upward trend can be observed across countries and agricultural product groups throughout the 1990-2002 period.

Trade between partners of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs): A surge in trade between RTA partners was achieved mainly by a recent proliferation of RTAs. According to a recent WTO report (2004b), some 220 RTAs were estimated operational as of October 2004, of which 150 had been notified to the GATT/WTO. Nearly all WTO Members belong to at least one

RTA, and each belongs to six RTAs on average 2. The number of RTAs is likely to continue to increase in coming years, considering the number of RTAs under negotiation. Consequently, it was estimated that the share of trade between RTA partners of world merchandise trade will grow to 55% by 2005 if all expected RTAs are concluded, rising from 43% at present.

Developing countries’ trade: In 2004, the share of developing countries in world merchandise trade stood at 31%, having increased from about 20% in the mid-1980s. This is the highest level since 1950. It is observed that developing countries are increasingly becoming an important destination for the exports of developed countries. Among those, in particular, some problems have been recognized in

identifying tariff classification and assessing the Customs value3 of second-hand goods such as used cars, computer equipment, machinery and clothing. Also, developing countries contributed more to the 2003 growth of world merchandise trade than developed countries. It was estimated that nearly four-fifths of the real growth in 2003 was attributable to developing countries, including transition economies.

E-commerce: Electronic commerce (e-commerce, described as “doing business electronically”) has become a dominant factor in international trade and business, although traditional methods of trade and business continue to be utilized widely. For example, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as Internet communication has made cross-border activities easier and more practical. It can reduce business costs in seeking potential foreign business partners, as well as improve a firm’s visibility in global marketing services, in particular for SMEs. In addition, it allows sellers to reach potential buyers for their products beyond their national borders. In other words, it enables firms to take more opportunities to expand their business in global markets. As a result, trade patterns are changing, for example, smaller shipments are increasing, and different goods are exported to and imported from more countries.[6,4-5]