Asian merchandise exports falling in 2015
Merchandise exports from most Asian countries at the beginning of 2015 suffered year-on-year declines, despite healthy growth in the US and an improvement in most other OECD economies. The decline is mainly attributable to the fall in global prices of energy and industrial raw materials and a depreciation of regional currencies against the US dollar. Shipments from Asia in volume terms have increased year on year. Exports in the region will experience greater growth in the rest of 2015 and 2016 as prices of commodities recover, but growth is likely to remain lower than before the global financial crisis.
The majority of countries in Asia have seen the nominal value of their merchandise exports in US dollar terms decline on average in the first quarter or the first two months of 2015 compared with the year-earlier period, and in the fourth quarter of 2014 outward shipments of goods in several Asian countries also fell year on year. This is concerning for these countries, which have previously depended on strong export growth for economic development. The decline in exports came in spite of rising consumer demand in the US and the EU. The euro zone experienced strong growth of retail sales volumes of 3.2% and 3% in January and February respectively.