July 24, 2020

CPB World Trade Monitor May 2020

World trade fell 1.1% in May. This means that the total decline in 2020 up till May is 17%. This follows from the new release of the World Trade Monitor of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). This means that world trade has decreased by around 17% in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has played a major role in this. All over the world, both production and consumption have declined due to various measures taken to limit the spread of the virus. This has a great impact on international trade.

Read the complete accompanying press release.

Developments in global international trade and industrial production May 2020:

World trade volume decreased 1.1% month-on-month (growth was -12.2% in April, initial estimate -12.1%).
World trade momentum was -11.6% (non-annualised; -6.9% in April, initial estimate -7.2%).
World industrial production increased 0.8% month-on-month (having decreased 8.5% in April, initial estimate -8.1%).
World industrial production momentum was -7.1% (non-annualised; -5.8% in April, initial estimate -5.6%).

The next release of the CPB World Trade Monitor is scheduled for 25 August 2020, 15:00 hours.

CPB publishes a World Trade Monitor every month on behalf of the European Commission. It takes two months for the figures to become available. For questions please contact wtm@cpb.nl.

Read also the CPB Background Document 'The CPB World Trade Monitor: technical description (update 2020)'. In September 2016 (starting with the July 2016 monitor) the WTM base year has been moved from 2005 to 2010. Clarification of the procedure and its outcomes is given in the downloadable appendix (CPB Memo 'Change of base year WTM').

If you want to receive an email alert every time CPB publishes its update of the world trade monitor, please subscribe to our alert service on this page (CPB Data).

The World Trade Monitor is partially financed by DG ECFIN (Directorate General of Economic and Monetary Affairs of the Economic Commission).