The World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat has published an update of the information note on trade in medical goods in the context of tackling COVID-19 which was first issued on 3rd April. The update looks at developments that took place in the first half of 2020.
The new paper presents preliminary trade statistics from 97 economies and compares data from January to June 2020 to the same period in 2019. The update includes a special case study on face masks, a heavily traded product which has become the most visible symbol of the fight against the pandemic.
While total world trade in goods declined by 14 per cent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, imports and exports of medical goods increased by 16 per cent, reaching US$ 1.139 trillion in value.
Trade played a major role in meeting skyrocketing demand for products considered critical in the COVID-19 pandemic, such as disinfectants, face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, pulse oximeters, syringes, thermometers and ventilators. Global trade in these products grew by 29 per cent year-on-year.
The note also looks at total imports of face protection products in the first half of 2020, which increased by 90 per cent compared to the same period last year. Trade in textile face masks grew about six-fold and were the most traded among the different types of faces masks, despite facing the highest tariffs.
Source: WTO
