Trends in International Merchandise Trade: A Review of the OIC Member Countries
Date: 10 July 2008

The volume of merchandise trade among countries has been rapidly increasing in recent two decades along with the tidal wave of globalization that began in the late 1980s. In this respect, the growing levels of economic integration through the emergence of economic blocks in addition to the increasing number of trade agreements around the world, the formation of more flexible global production systems thanks to the developments in information and telecommunication technologies accompanied by the proliferation of multinational firms and foreign direct investments, and the improvements in modes of transportation that have resulted in lower costs have been the major contributors to the expansion in the global merchandise trade.

With these in mind, estimates show that world merchandise trade –exports plus imports of goods– amounted to US$ 24.4 trillion in 2006, more than 6-fold of the 1980 level of US$ 3.8 trillion (Figure 1). During the period 1980-2006, the second half of the 1980s and the mid-1990s witnessed booms while the recent years also recorded unprecedented growth rates that seem to persist in the years to come.

Online Electronic Version

Trends in International Merchandise Trade: A Review of the OIC Member Countries (English) (French)