Lo scorso anno il commercio estero mondiale è cresciuto del 2,5%

Nel 2002 il commercio estero mondiale ha registrato un incremento del 2,5% rispetto all'anno precedente (quando fu totalizzato un calo dell'1%). La crescita dello scorso anno - si legge nel rapporto annuale diffuso oggi dalla World Trade Organization (WTO) - è stata determinata in particolare dall'incremento della domanda negli Stati Uniti e nelle principali economie asiatiche. La WTO ritiene che nel 2003 la progressione del commercio estero sarà analoga o inferiore a quella dello scorso anno; le prime indicazioni - ha precisato l'organizzazione mondiale del commercio - mostrano per quest'anno un incremento inferiore al 3%. Questi tassi - ha osservato la WTO - sono inferiori alla metà di quanto totalizzato negli anni Novanta, quando il tasso medio di crescita fu del 6,7%. Sul 2003 gravano inoltre le incognite relative al proseguimento dell'indebolimento dell'economia mondiale, al conflitto in Iraq e alla possibilità di un'ulteriore diffusione del virus della SARS.

"Questi dati sul commercio - ha detto il direttore generale della WTO, Supachai Panitchpakdi - riflettono l'attuale crescente incertezza economica e politica mondiale. Questa incertezza è dannosa per la crescita economica e per lo sviluppo e può accrescere l'instabilità in tutto il mondo. I governi devono dare un segnale per far sapere che sono preparati ad affrontare questi problemi. Un contributo molto importante a questi sforzi sarebbe rappresentato dall'accelerazione dei lavori del negoziato multilaterale di Doha".

World exports of merchandise and commercial services, 1990-2002
Billion dollars and percentage
(Source: WTO)

	Value	%
	2002	1990'2000	2001	2002
Merchandise	6 240	6	'4	4
Commercial services	1 540	7	'1	5

Growth in the value of merchandise trade by region, 1990-2002
Billion dollars and percentage
(Source: WTO)

	Exports				Imports
	Value	Annual percentage change			Value	Annual percentage change
	2002	1990'2000	2001	2002	2002	1990'2000	2001	2002
World	6 240	6	'4	4	6 501	6	'4	3

North America	946	7	'7	'4	1 431	9	'6	2
United States	694	7	'7	'5	1 202	9	'6	2

Latin America	351	9	-3	1	355	12	-2	-7
Mexico	161	15	-5	1	176	15	-4	0
MERCOSUR	88	6	4	1	62	12	-6	-26
Other Latin America	102	6	-7	0	116	7	3	-3

Western Europe	2 648	4	0	5	2 644	4	-2	4
European Union (15)	2 441	4	0	5	2 438	4	-2	3
Excl. intra-EU trade	939	5	1	6	931	5	-4	1
Intra-EU trade	1 502	4	-1	5	1 507	4	-1	5

Transition economies	309	10	5	8	297	8	11	10
Central/Eastern Europe	145	10	12	12	176	12	9	10
Russian Federation	107	-	-2	4	60	-	20	12

Africa	139	3	-6	1	133	3	2	1

Middle East	236	6	-7	-2	183	5	4	2

Asia	1 610	8	-9	8	1 457	8	-7	6
Japan	416	5	-16	3	336	5	-8	-4
Developing Asia	1 114	11	-7	10	1 033	9	-7	9
China	326	15	7	22	295	16	8	21
IT traders (6) a	618	10	-13	7	561	9	-13	6

Memorandum item:	1 841	9	-7	6	1 704	9	-4	4
Developing economies	1 841	9	-7	6	1 704	9	-4	4
LDCs	38	7	1	4	45	5	4	3

a Chinese Taipei, the Rep. of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Growth in the value of commercial services trade by region, 1990-2002
Billion dollars and percentage
(Source: WTO)

	Exports				Imports
	Value	Annual percentage change			Value	Annual percentage change
	2002	1990'2000	2001	2002	2002	1990'2000	2001	2002
World	1538	7	'1	5	1522	6	'1	5

North America	304	7	'4	3	260	7	'5	11
United States	268	7	'4	3	218	8	'5	13

Latin America	55	7	'2	'6	63	7	0	'12
Mexico	13	7	'7	0	16	5	'1	'1
MERCOSUR	13	8	'5	'13	19	10	'3	'26
Other Latin America	30	7	1	'5	28	7	3	'6

Western Europe	744	5	1	7	695	5	2	6
European Union (15)	673	5	2	8	651	6	3	6

Transition economies	58	'	7	8	63	'	11	12
Central/Eastern Europe	33	'	6	3	29	'	7	12
Russian Federation	12	'	10	18	21	'	12	13

Africa	29	5	1	'6	40	4	4	1

Middle East	32	9	'7	'4	47	4	'6	3

Asia	316	9	'1	5	354	7	'4	1
Japan	65	5	'7	2	105	3	'7	'2
Developing Asia	230	11	2	6	227	11	'1	2
China	37	18	9	13	44	24	9	13
Hong Kong, China	44	8	2	6	24	8	'1	'2
Korea, Rep. of	29	13	0	'1	34	13	0	2
Singapore	27	8	'2	3	21	10	'6	1

Memorandum item:
Developing countries	346	9	0	2	377	8	'1	'1
LDCs	6	6	'4	5	16	4	13	4

Leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade, 2002
(Billion dollars and percentage)
(Source: WTO)

Rank	Exporters	Value	Share	Annual % change	Rank	Importers	Value	Share	Annual % change
1	United States	693.5	10.8	-5	1	United States	1 202.5	18.0	2
2	Germany	612.2	9.5	7	2	Germany	493.3	7.4	1
3	Japan	416.0	6.5	3	3	United Kingdom	339.8	5.1	2
4	France	329.5	5.1	2	4	Japan	336.4	5.0	-4
5	China	325.6	5.1	22	5	France	326.4	4.9	-1
6	United Kingdom	275.9	4.3	1	6	China	295.2	4.4	21
7	Canada	252.5	3.9	-3	7	Italy	241.1	3.6	4
8	Italy	252.0	3.9	5	8	Canada	227.6	3.4	0
9	Netherlands	243.4	3.8	5	9	Netherlands	217.7	3.3	4
10	Belgium	213.2	3.3	12	10	Hong Kong, China	208.6	3.1	3
						retained imports a	24.7	0.4	-21

11	Hong Kong, China	200.6	3.1	5	11	Belgium	195.7	2.9	10
	domestic exports	16.7	0.3	-18	12	Mexico	176.5	2.6	0
	re-exports	183.9	2.9	8	13	Spain	153.7	2.3	-1
12	Korea, Rep. of	162.5	2.5	8	14	Korea, Rep. of	152.1	2.3	8
13	Mexico	160.8	2.5	1	15	Singapore	116.2	1.7	0
14	Chinese Taipei	130.3	2.0	6		Retained imports	57.7	0.9	-5
15	Singapore	125.6	2.0	3	16	Chinese Taipei	112.6	1.7	5
	domestic exports	67.0	1.0	1	17	Switzerland	83.5	1.2	-1
	re-exports	58.6	0.9	5	18	Malaysia	80.2	1.2	9
16	Spain	118.9	1.9	2	19	Austria	77.7	1.2	4
17	Russian Fed.	106.9	1.7	4	20	Australia	72.7	1.1	14
18	Malaysia	95.7	1.5	9
19	Ireland	88.6	1.4	7
20	Switzerland	87.6	1.4	7
21	Sweden	80.7	1.3	7	21	Sweden	65.9	1.0	4
22	Austria	79.1	1.2	12	22	Thailand	64.5	1.0	4
23	Saudi Arabia	73.9	1.2	1	23	Russian Fed.	60.0	0.9	12
24	Thailand	68.6	1.1	5	24	India	56.3	0.8	12
25	Australia	65.0	1.0	3	25	Poland	54.8	0.8	9
26	Brazil	60.4	0.9	4	26	Ireland	51.9	0.8	3
27	Norway	60.3	0.9	2	27	Brazil	49.5	0.7	-15
28	Denmark	56.8	0.9	10	28	Denmark	49.2	0.7	9
29	Indonesia	52.0	0.8	0	29	Turkey	48.8	0.7	18
30	India	50.0	0.8	15	30	Czech Rep. b	40.6	0.6	11

	Total of above c	5 538	86.2	-		Total of above c	5 651	84.5	-
	World c	6 424	100.0	4		World c	6 685	100.0	3

a Retained imports are defined as imports less re-exports.
b Imports are valued f.o.b.
c Includes significant re-exports or imports for re-export.

Leading exporters and importers in world trade in commercial services, 2002
Billion dollars and percentage
(Source: WTO)

Rank	Exporters	Value	Share	Annual % change	Rank	Importers	Value	Share	Annual % change
1	United States	267.8	17.4	3	1	United States	218.4	14.3	13
2	United Kingdom	121.0	7.9	10	2	Germany	142.8	9.4	4
3	Germany	94.9	6.2	14	3	Japan	105.3	6.9	-2
4	France	84.0	5.5	5	4	United Kingdom	98.0	6.4	6
5	Japan	64.7	4.2	2	5	France	64.3	4.2	4
6	Spain	61.1	4.0	6	6	Italy	61.7	4.0	11
7	Italy	58.7	3.8	3	7	Netherlands	55.9	3.7	5
8	Netherlands	54.7	3.6	5	8	Belgium-Luxembourg	47.9	3.1	12
9	Belgium-Luxembourg	53.3	3.5	9	9	China	44.2	2.9	...
10	Hong Kong, China	44.0	2.9	6	10	Canada	41.7	2.7	0
11	China	37.3	2.4	...	11	Ireland	38.8	2.5	12
12	Canada	36.2	2.4	2	12	Spain	36.2	2.4	9
13	Austria	36.1	2.3	11	13	Korea, Rep. of	33.9	2.2	2
14	Korea, Rep. of	29.3	1.9	-1	14	Austria	33.8	2.2	8
15	Switzerland	27.3	1.8	5	15	Denmark	24.6	1.6	5
16	Singapore	27.0	1.8	3	16	Chinese Taipei	24.4	1.6	3
17	Denmark	26.9	1.8	0	17	Hong Kong, China	23.9	1.6	-2
18	Ireland	26.2	1.7	31	18	Sweden	23.1	1.5	1
19	Sweden	22.0	1.4	1	19	Russian Fed.	20.7	1.4	13
20	Chinese Taipei	21.3	1.4	10	20	Singapore	20.6	1.4	1
21	India	20.7	1.3	8	21	Australia	17.0	1.1	3
22	Greece	18.9	1.2	-3	22	Norway	16.5	1.1	8
23	Norway	18.8	1.2	5	23	Mexico	16.4	1.1	-1
24	Australia	16.0	1.0	1	24	Thailand	16.3	1.1	13
25	Thailand	14.9	1.0	16	25	Indonesia	15.7	1.0	...
26	Turkey	14.4	0.9	-10	26	Malaysia	15.6	1.0	-5
27	Malaysia	14.1	0.9	-2	27	India	15.5	1.0	-14
28	Mexico	12.6	0.8	0	28	Switzerland	15.3	1.0	1
29	Russian Fed.	12.4	0.8	18	29	Brazil	13.6	0.9	-14
30	Poland	9.8	0.6	0	30	Israel	12.5	0.8	1

	Total of above	1 345.0	87.5	6		Total of above	1 315.0	86.4	6
	World	1 540.0	100.0	5		World	1 520.0	100.0	5