World trade decelerates almost to standstill

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Global trade slowed almost to a standstill over the new year, threatening to shrink for the first time since the US economy went into recession in 2001.

An indicator produced by the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, a Dutch research institute, showed that in the three months to January world trade in goods rose at annualised rate of 0.2 per cent over the previous three months.

The equivalent growth rate in the three months to October was 6.9 per cent. The data appear to provide further evidence that global economic activity is slowing, as growth in emerging markets has failed to compensate for weaker demand in the US.

The last time annual growth in trade went negative was in 2001, when the shallow US recession that followed the bursting of the technology bubble and the shock of the September 11 attacks caused global commerce to contract.

Trade growth is consistently higher on average than overall economic growth but it also tends to be more variable, dropping sharply during recessions.

FT

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. Your subject line is slightly misleading.

It isn't that world trade has decelerated "almost to a standstill", it's the rate of growth that has slowed. The container ships are still being loaded and unloaded.

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2. Subject is same as article title from FT. nt