September 28, 2009
World agriculture trade shows year-on-year decline
Latest data on the value of total and agricultural merchandise trade show a broad-based decline in the value of exports and imports compared with year-ago levels, according to World Trade Atlas.
The data showed that the decline in merchandise trade accelerated sharply during the first quarter of 2009, due to the then worsening world economic recession.
Total and agricultural merchandise trade is expected to recover when the recession ends and economies begin to grow again. Several forecasts indicated this is unlikely to occur until the last quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010.
Based on this, it is estimated that the decline in value of agricultural trade will continue throughout the remainder of 2009.
