MUMBAI, Dec 13: Since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) came into being in 1948, which eventually paved way for the WTO in January 1995, the share of China’s exports soared to 14.2 per cent in 2015 from a paltry 0.9 per cent 67 years ago, while that of the US nosedived to 9.2 per cent from 21.6 per cent.
In absolute terms, China’s export earnings zoomed to USD 2.27 trillion in 2015 from a non-consequential USD 530 million 67 years ago, says India Ratings in a report, quoting the World Trade Organisation (WTO) numbers. The report by its analyst Abhash Sharma, however, does not offer the comparative numbers for the US or any other country.
India, too, slipped in the global trade sweepstakes. From a 2.2 per cent share in the global trade in 1948, it’s down to 1.7 per cent in 2015 and has always been under 1 per cent in between. India’s third best figure was 1.3 per cent in 1963. Similarly, China’s exports to the country rose manifold to USD 62 billion in 2016 from USD 7 billion in 2005.
In fact, the US never saw its export share increase from 1948 as it has been steadily falling. Its second best peak was in 1963 when it had an export share of 14.6 per cent.
Similar sorry story was that of Britain, whose share of global trade fell like ninepins – from a robust 11.3 per cent in 1948 to just 2.9 per cent in 2015.
These numbers assume importance as the Communist China — which has become the world’s factory over the past three decades — has completed 15 years as a WTO member on December 10 and is set to get the market economy status (MES) as per the trade body’s membership rules.
The only three other countries that have improved their exports share are Germany, Japan and the Netherlands, the report said.
While the share of Germany jumped from 1.4 per cent in 1948 to 8.3 per cent in 2015, that of Japan, which was the second largest economy till 2011, improved to 3.9 per cent from 0.4 per cent during this time while its peak of 9.8 per cent was in 1993 and 6.8 per cent in 2003.
Similarly, the Netherlands’ share rose from 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent during this period. Germany had a peak share of 11.7 per cent in 1973.
Sharma, in the report, warned that an MES status for Beijing, which currently has only a non-market economy status, will be highly detrimental to the commodity driven economies and sectors.
Region-wise, Europe and Asia saw a rise in their share, whereas North America, South & Central America and Africa lost out massively. (PTI)
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