The pandemic has impacted all parts of the world and every sector of industry.  The World Center Miami continues to monitor the current situation and report back to you on recent projections as well as inform you on the movement of trade.

"The fall in trade we are now seeing is historically large – in fact, it would be the steepest on record. But there is an important silver lining here: it could have been much worse,” said WTO Director‑General Roberto Azevêdo. "

The WTO and other global organizations had predicted a much steeper decline in trade for Q2 and predicted a worst-case scenario of 27-32% drop in trade back in April.  WTO has adjusted its projections to a drop of 18.5% decline in trade for the year.  

They note a couple of reasons for this: (1) Government fiscal and monetary policies were implemented faster and at a larger scale than expected. (2) Financial support to households combined with consumer confidence in a recovery has kept consumer spending levels at higher levels than expected.  This helps support international trade in consumer goods although trade in durables such as automobiles has been negatively impacted. (3) Decline in economic activity has primarily been in sectors which are not heavily trade related/dependent such as hospitality and entertainment.

Several sectors have shown resilience during this downturn such as consumer electronics and information technology services.  This can be attributed to the shift of many employees to working from home.

Now let’s take a look at Florida trade:

The Word Trade Center Miami will continue to report developments.  Please stay tuned and sign up for updates.