G20 foreign trade reached record levels in the first quarter

Paris, May 25 (EFE) .- The foreign trade of the G20 members reached record levels in dollars during the first quarter due to the triple effect of the economic recovery, the devaluation of the US currency and the inflation of prices of raw materials such as oil, agricultural products or various metals.
Exports from the G20 countries grew by 8% between January and March compared to the last quarter of the year to 4.023 trillion dollars, while imports increased by 8.1% to 3.974 trillion, announced on Tuesday the Organization for Cooperation and Development. Economic Development (OECD).
All members of the group increased their sales and purchases abroad except the United Kingdom, whose exports suffered a decrease of 5.7% and imports by 10.5% in the first three months in which Brexit became effective.
The OECD specified that this happened after the strong increases in exchanges that had occurred in the fourth quarter of 2020, precisely to build stocks and guarantee supplies in the face of uncertainties about the consequences of leaving the European Union (EU).
Leaving aside the particular case of the United Kingdom, the increase in foreign trade in current dollars appears partially linked to the depreciation of this reference currency, which in turn is partly behind the rise in other prices.
Commodity inflation in the first quarter was particularly marked for oil (it became more expensive by almost 35%). This translated into a notable progression in exports from large producers such as Canada (+10.8%) and Russia (+13.1%).
Agricultural products also became more expensive, especially cereals and vegetable oils, with increases of over 10%. Something similar happened with metals, which have reached prices that have not occurred since 2011.
Producers’ sales of all these raw materials soared: those of Argentina by 33.3%; those of Australia 17.5%; those of Brazil 14.7%; those of South Africa 17.3%.
The large consumption of electronic products due to the pandemic has generated a very strong demand for semiconductors to which semiconductor manufacturers have not been able to fully respond.
This has led to supply problems, for example for the automotive industry, which in many cases has had to reduce its production rates.
The slowdown in the commercialization of vehicles has been felt in countries that depend heavily on this sector. Thus, French exports increased by only 2.7% between January and March and Mexican exports by 0.4%.
China, “number one” in the world in foreign merchandise trade, had a significant rise of 18.9% in exports (hand in hand with electronic products) and 19% in imports (especially metals). and metallic minerals).
In the case of the European Union, its sales abroad increased by 3.8%, while purchases registered a rise of 5%.

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