Euromonitor has recently bulked up their foreign trade offerings. Our Passport Reference & Markets subscription now contains import/export figures for all sorts of commodities, from fruits to furniture, for approximately 140 countries. Here are a few interesting tidbits that I just learned from looking at the new data:
- Germany was the world’s biggest exporter of passenger cars in 2008 (US$140,158 million). Forty percent of all of the world’s passenger car exports come from Germany or Japan.
- The USA was the world’s biggest importer of petroleum and petroleum products in 2008 (US$482,787 million). However, China is rapidly catching up, with growth of 397% in US$ terms between 2003 and 2008.
- China was the world’s biggest exporter of iron and steel in 2008 (US$65,065 million), exporting 41% more than the second biggest (Germany) with exports growing at an annual average rate of 68% between 2003 and 2008.
To access the new information, click on the Countries link in the main navigational bar – the statistics can be found under the Foreign Trade category to the left.
