All about business

Global trade will plunge 9 percent this year, the most since World War II, as the recession engulfs more countries, the World Trade Organization said.

“Economic contraction in most of the industrial world and steep export declines already posted in the early months of this year by most major economies — particularly those in Asia — make for an unusually bleak 2009 trade assessment,” the Geneva- based WTO said in its annual assessment of world trade.

Manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia are struggling as the worst recession in 60 years broadens. Exporters from Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, and ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the largest U.S. tiremaker, and Sony Corp., the world’s No. 2 consumer-electronics maker, are slashing output and cutting jobs to cope with collapsing demand.

“The contraction in developed countries will be particularly severe, with exports falling by 10 percent this year,” the report said paperless payday loans. “In developing countries, which are far more dependent on trade for growth, exports will shrink by some 2 percent to 3 percent in 2009.”

European exports to the U.S. fell the most in five years in 2008 as the financial crisis curtailed demand in the region’s main trading partners, data released on March 23 show. U.S. shipments abroad, which tumbled in January to the lowest level since 2006, have slumped at a 44 percent annual pace in the most recent six months of data, with imports shrinking 51 percent as Americans stop buying everything from OPEC oil to Japanese cars.

The WTO forecast was scheduled for release March 25. The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported the data earlier today.

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