According to the Goods Trade Barometer released by the World Trade Organization (WTO), global trade will continue to recover in 2021 after the short and sharp drop in the second quarter of last year caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Among all indexes, export orders (114.8), air freight (111.1) and electronic components (115.2) are leading increases. The strong indexes of automotive products (105.5) and raw materials (105.4) reflected that consumer confidence has improved. The strong performance of container shipping (106.7) is particularly impressive.

In terms of blockade restrictions fully implemented in the second quarter of 2020, the trade volume fell by 15.5% year on year but the volume in the fourth quarter had a year-on-year increase.

Although the quarterly trade volume statistics for the first and second quarters of 2021 have not yet been released, the year-on-year growth was expected to be very strong due to the recent stronger performance in the overall global trade.