Trade and Market Intelligence 2023 Q2 update

Launch of the West African

Competitiveness Observatory

New study on "Expanding Arab African Trade - Opportunities for Export Growth"

New "Go Digital" Opportunities in

Global Trade Helpdesk

NTM business survey results in

Moldova out now

TIFM II project's enhanced trade in services statistics & insights into obstacles faced by entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean region

Trade Briefs' focus on key products in the energy transition & much more

Capacity Building: Support to Ukrainian data compilers, training African officials on ATO etc.

ITC Tools data updates

Trade integration and competitiveness in West Africa are below their potential. In the World Economic Forum’s 2019 competitiveness report, the West African states included were ranked between 111th and 130th of 141 countries in total. This indicates the need for significant improvements. The International Trade Centre (ITC) estimates that over $2 billion in intraregional trade potential remain to be exploited over the coming years, subject to investments and the removal of market frictions.

Against this backdrop, with support from the European Union, the ITC has developed the West African Competitiveness (WACOMP) Observatoryin partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The WACOMP Observatory is a cutting-edge tool designed to enable policymakers and businesses to make informed decisions and take strategic action to enhance competitiveness and support regional integration. As the first of its kind, it builds upon the data collected by the African Trade Observatory (ATO) to provide uniquely detailed and innovative insights into the competitiveness landscape of West Africa.

The main role of the Competitiveness Observatory is to:

Competitiveness Module

The beta version of the WACOMP Observatory, launched on the 16th of May, displays an initial version of the Competitiveness Module

This module focuses on monitoring trade competitiveness and its drivers. It draws on data from various sources to provide comprehensive information. Additional indicators based on transaction-level trade data collected by the ATO are being developed and will be added as data for West African countries becomes available.

Modules currently under development:

Regional Value Chain Module

This module offers detailed insights on selected regional value chains, including information on products, partners, and markets.

Business Matchmaking Module

This module comprises practical business tools to facilitate connections between companies across the region to strengthen West African value chains and promote regional trade.

Introducing Trade and Competitiveness Intelligence Tools for West Africa:

Joint ATO-WACOMP Stakeholder Event

In a significant stride towards promoting regional collaboration, the West African Competitiveness (WACOMP) Observatory and the African Trade Observatory (ATO) organized a joint high-level stakeholder event in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on the 16th and 17th of May 2023. This event, organized in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), brought together fifty-six representatives from thirteen West African countries, including officials from the Ministries of Trade, Ministries of Industry, Customs Authorities and Trade Promotion Organizations.

The workshop served as a forum to introduce the two EU-funded initiatives, namely ATO and the WACOMP Observatory, a beta version of which was launched at the occasion of the event. These initiatives are designed to drive sustainable development in the region by providing trade information tools, reinforcing Capacity Building efforts, and offering business support. The ATO is one of the five instruments developed for a successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), led by the African Union. Based on timely and reliable customs data, the online tool lets policymakers and firms across Africa identify, compare and monitor trade opportunities emerging from regional integration and the AfCFTA. The WACOMP Observatory, designed under the West Africa Competitiveness Programme, builds upon the data collected by the ATO to enable policymakers and businesses to make informed decisions and take strategic action for better competitiveness and regional integration.

We kindly invite you to answer the survey below.

English

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Portuguese

CALLING ALL BUSINESSES

Share Your Views on Competitiveness in the West Africa Business Survey

To gather valuable insights for the West African Competitiveness Observatory, we have prepared a survey for businesses to share their views and experiences. We value your input and want to hear your perspectives on the current competitiveness landscape in West Africa. Your participation will contribute to the development of targeted initiatives and policies that cater to the needs of the business community.

Your feedback is crucial in shaping the future of the West African business ecosystem.

Recent global emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have reemphasized the need to nearshore, diversify trade partners and move away from relying solely on commodity exports, as part of an effort towards greater economic resilience. While African exports to Arab states have been on a strong growth path over the past decades, exports of Arab states to Africa have not increased in recent years.

TRADE POTENTIAL BETWEEN TE ARAB STATES AND AFRICA BY 2027

Source: ITC calculations based on Export Potential Map

Note: *To avoid any duplication of data, the export potential from Arab African countries to other Arab African countries ($6 billion) is represented by a striped pattern and is included only in the top chart, not also in the lower chart.

A new study, commissioned by the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade, estimates that Arab-African trade could grow by $38 billion by 2027—a 31% increase over 2021 levels—if partners address trade barriers and channel investments into sectors with growth potential. The opportunities are in sectors ranging from plastics to metal-based products, vehicles, chemicals, horticulture and electronics. On the one hand they are adding value to Arab and African countries’ abundant natural resources. On the other hand they cater to emerging needs brought on by trends in urbanization, changing lifestyles and rising living standards in the region.

To capitalize on the opportunities identified and increase Arab-African trade, the study suggests that policymakers may focus on three critical actions: trade policy, trade facilitation and targeted investment.

The Global Trade Helpdesk platformnow empowers firms to Go Digital. The new section of the platform integrates information on digital payment coverage and payment solutions, e-commerce marketplaces available in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as de minimis values from the Global Express Association.

This new section was presented to chambers and businesses at the side event of the World Chambers Congress on June 20th, co-organized with the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Chambers expressed great interest in leveraging the new information to help their members access new trade opportunities. The platform was also presented to firms at the Business Circle of the World Chamber’s congress and sparked great interest in cross-linking with national chamber websites.

Promotion and training of the platform targeted different regions and participants. The Trade Made Simpler webinar with the WTO Trade4MSMEs platform and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) brought together participants from across the globe to help the integrate diverse tools across their trade journey. African participants joined a special webinar organized by CPCCAF (Conférence Permanente des Chambres Consulaires Africaines et Francophones). Jordanian start ups also attended a dedicated session in May focusing on how to expand their business to the U.S. market.

On April 26th, ITC presented the findings of the business survey conducted in Moldova at a High-Level National Stakeholders’ Meeting in Chisinau. The event, organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Moldova and the Ministry of Economy and Digitalization, gathered over 70 representatives and stakeholders from the public and private sectors to highlight key concerns and recommended actions to alleviate the hurdles identified by the 700 companies interviewed in the survey.

The meeting focused on three main issues that must be addressed to facilitate exports from Moldova: customs procedures, quality standards, and challenges for IT and Tourism exporters. The insights from the survey and the stakeholder meeting will be part of a forthcoming report.

Read the report here

ITC’s large-scale business surveys, which aim to support evidence-based policy making, have been successfully implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. Overall, 2,300 traders of goods and services were interviewed in the four countries to identify the key regulatory and procedural barriers faced by businesses and countries from achieving their full export potential.

The business surveys are part of the Eastern Partnership Trade Helpdesk, an EU-funded project under EU4Business initiative, designed and implemented by the ITC to boost the trade competitiveness of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of the Eastern Partnership countries within the region and the European Union (EU).

The discussions of results and options to promote trade facilitation will continue in the second half of 2023.

To ensure Portuguese-speaking users have simplified access to regulatory changes in their target markets, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the ITC teamed up to translate the ePing platform into Portuguese.

The platform's official launch event on March 30th featured the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), which emphasized the significance of providing local traders with essential information on technical regulations (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) in their target markets. The webinar also gathered representatives from the Brazilian public and private sectors.

The ePing platform offers users timely information on notifications, including new and updated regulations. It enables them to stay informed about trade concerns and receive customized email alerts based on their interests in specific products and markets. Additionally, the platform aims to foster connections between national traders by providing a national forum for discussing notifications and facilitating engagement with SPS/TBT officials worldwide.

Read the report here

The new ITC report “Non-Tariff Measures in the Textile and Clothing Sector of Agadir Member States” provides valuable insights into the regulatory and procedural barriers that businesses within the member states of the Agadir trade agreement face in their trade operations.

The textiles and clothing (T&C) sector holds great significance within this region, contributing significantly to the export activities of all member states. The Agadir Agreement is an initiative to establish a free trade area among Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The report highlights that these countries often find obtaining information about third markets – for example, the European Union – easier than regional export destinations. The surveys conducted with more than 800 companies also reveal that most of the issues mentioned by traders are domestic. Therefore, the countries in the region hold the key to tackling the before-the-border problems which hinderexports in destination markets.

Enhancing trade in services statistics

In addition to the existing potential in trading goods, the region could realize more trade in the services’ sectors. With the objective of providing more comprehensive data, a two-day technical workshop took place early June in Morocco, to engage with some key stakeholders: “Ministère de l'Industrie et du Commerce ”, “Office des Changes”, “Haut-Commissariat au Plan”, “Agence Marocaine de Développement des Investissements et des Exportations“, “Office Marocain de la Propriété Industrielle et Commerciale”, and “Ministère de l'Équipement et de l'Eau“.

The workshop occurred after a preparatory phase which allowed national partners to select “Construction” as a priority sector for TIFM II project. The focus of the collaboration with ITC is on international statistics recommendations, and their implementation in Morocco, in particular the survey among construction operators which should be deployed in the coming months. While this is ongoing, you can already assess Morocco’s global performance in the services’ sector on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk “Global Performance” module.

Understanding obstacles faced by entrepreneurs

According to ITC estimates, the Mediterranean region has $16 bn in unrealized intra-regional trade potential. To fully benefit from this potential, it is critical for policy makers to understand the obstacles faced by the private sector and formulate recommendations to overcome them. With this aim in mind, business surveys are being implemented in partner countries, using the well-known ITC methodology already applied in more than 70 countries.

In line with this objective and as described in the previous section, ITC has conducted interviews to identify trade obstacles faced by Textile and Clothing (T&C) businesses in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco (in synergy with another project, see the results and more details here). To complement these insights, business interviews are currently being conducted in Morocco and Tunisia across various goods and services sectors. Similarly, they will be soon launched in other TIFM II partner countries.

Promoting the Euromed Trade Helpdesk

From the forum “Salon International de l'Agriculture au Maroc - SIAM” in Meknes, Morocco, to the notable side-event in Algeria hosted by “Agence Nationale de Promotion du Commerce Extérieur – Algex”, and the event organized by the “Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry – HCCI” in Hebron, Palestine, stakeholders across the Mediterranean region are increasingly becoming aware of the Euromed Trade Helpdesk.

These events are instrumental in raising awareness on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk and its valuable insights to foster regional integration. More will be organized in the coming months. Stay tuned as well for upcoming webinars. Do not hesitate to contact euromed@intracen.org to express your interest to participate.

An unprecedented alignment of the climate change emergency with the ongoing energy crisis, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, has accelerated the energy transition globally. Recent supply chain disruptions and raw material shortages make it hard to meet the surging demands. A new monthly series on "Energy Transition" tracks the evolution of exports of products vital to the energy transition and maps the inputs needed for the manufacturing of those and the suppliers with unrealized export potential. Each month, a different energy transition product will be highlighted, starting with heat pumps.

CAPACITY BUILDING
African Trade Observatory

Boosting Trade Intelligence in Africa: Interactive Workshops on the African Trade Observatory Engage Public and Private Sectors

The journey to raise awareness and accessibility of the African Trade Observatory (ATO) across the continent continues. In this vein, the ATO online Dashboard was released in Kiswahili, meaning that the platform is available in all six official languages of the African Union (AU) together with English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

In May, we successfully bridged our efforts in engaging the private sector through two hands-on workshops on market analysis using the ATO in Eswatini and Zimbabwe. With over 100 participants, the engagement was highly interactive and productive. Mrs. Deborah Cutting, an NGO professional, underscored the value of ATO. She “regularly conducts value chain analyses and market access strategies for the private & public sectors, and the market information from the ATO is extremely useful in my daily work”.

Eastern Partnership Trade Helpdesk

Building engagement through training local multipliers

The EaP project worked to empower institutions and entrepreneurs across EaP countries through a number of targeted training activities. To help build capacities of local institutions, the EaP team trained 26 certified trainers across Business Support Organizations in Armenia and Georgia in May. In May, the team also participated in a Webinar Series organized by Eurochambers to help simplify market analysis among EaP countries and with European markets with 74 participants from across EaP markets.

Further Capacity Building activities with the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Entrepreneurship and Export Office also brought together 92 firms in Ukraine to help them find the information they need to diversify their activities to new markets.

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the ITC has continued its support to Ukrainian data compilers for the Balance of Payments statistics. The aim is to address the new challenges associated with collecting data in the Travel category. These challenges include determining the resident/non-resident status of refugees and understanding its impact on Travel statistics, addressing the lack of data sources, capturing expenses of travellers in transit and one-day visitors, utilizing credit card payment data as a source of Travel information, and exploring the potential use of mirror data.

To discuss the most burdensome issues faced by Ukrainian compilers, exchange on best-practice examples and assess their aplicability in Ukraine, ITC organized a Virtual Meeting on Compilation of Travel Statistics with Focus on Ukraine, held on 27 June. Participating organizations included national banks of Germany, Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Italy, and the Czech Statistical Office. Ukrainian authorities were represented by experts from the National Bank of Ukraine, the State Statistics Office, and State Agency for Tourism Development.

Euromed Trade & Investment Facilitation Mechanism

National partners have completed the Capacity Building programme, and are ready to guide economic operators on using Euromed Trade Helpdesk to find market opportunities. Visit Euromed Trade Helpdesk and reach euromed@intracen.org if you would like to be informed of training opportunities in your country.

Algerian stakeholders completed a “Training of trainers” on Euromed Trade Helpdesk

Following the success of the first workshop "Preparation of Quantitative Export Factsheet" aiming at strengthening market analysis capacities and knowledge on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk, a four-day session was organised in May to enhance participants' skills as trainers.

The Training of Trainers is an important step of this intensive Capacity Building programme, as it enabled national partners to effectively share their knowledge on the regional tool. In the coming months, certified trainers will implement their own trainings on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk for supporting Algerian economic operators in their business decisions.

The Capacity Building programme is implemented in collaboration with national partners: Ministère du Commerce et de la Promotion des Exportations and Agence Nationale de Promotion du Commerce Extérieur – ALGEX.

Palestinian stakeholders ready to organize trainings on Euromed Trade Helpdesk.

A four-day “Training of Trainers” was conducted in Ramallah, aiming at enhancing the skills of participants in conducting thorough market analysis and transferring knowledge on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk. With the support of the Ministry of National Economy, stakeholders from governmental institutions, the Palestinian Trade Center (PalTrade), as well as three chambers of commerce in Hebron, are now equipped to train others and actively contribute to raising awareness about the Euromed Trade Helpdesk as a critical instrument for regional integration.

Their enthusiasm is evident as they plan their future training sessions: "I am happy to announce the upcoming workshop that I will soon organize in Hebron. It will aim to significantly enhance the private sector's understanding of this rich tool and will be tailored to meet the needs of a diverse range of MSMEs seeking opportunities for international export. Moreover, it will equally target business support organizations in Hebron city, including chambers of commerce, industry unions, the Businessmen Forum Foundation, and other relevant entities.", states Mr. Ismail Sharif, the Business Support Unit Manager at Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) of Hebron Governorate.

Moroccan certified trainers in action!

National trainers have been actively sharing their expertise on the Euromed Trade Helpdesk and its multiple benefits since the last training «Training of Trainers» held in February. In May, Mr El Mehdi Jabbara from “Université Mohammed V de Rabat” and Mr Smail Boumahid, from “Ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce” successfully conducted a workshop for students, allowing them to be aware of this free online tool.

Non-Tariff Measures Programme

Women and youth lead ITC-HCMC Open University non-tariff measures trainings

More than 150 students attended the workshop organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Open University and supported by the International Trade Centre. In the different sessions taking place from March to April, about 75% of the participants were women—most of them under 35 years old.

Due to the high interest in the programme, the training participants were divided into smaller groups for more effective class work. The trainings covered market access, customs tariffs, and non-tariff measures (NTMs). The HCMC Open University students highlighted that the lessons provided a hands-on approach to understanding market access information traders need in their daily operations. “The course helped learners to gain more knowledge about market research and apply it in practice. It provided practical content close to reality”, said one of the participants.

The attendees also appreciated the tailor-made teaching methods. “The study materials and tests were available in Vietnamese and English versions. It was convenient and effective”, declared another participant.

The certified trainers in Vietnam conducted all the workshops with support from the ITC experts based in Geneva.

ITC certified trainers’ network in Iran poised to multiply workshops in the country

Under the Global Public Goods programme funded by the European Union, Iran hosted two trainings of trainers over the past year. As a result, a network of 30 trainers specializing in Trade Map and Market Access Map, and Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) is ready to deliver trainings throughout the country.

These trainers have conducted 39 sessions in the past months, including 25 in 2023 alone. Around 1,100 participants joined the Iranian network-led workshops, highlighting the widespread impact of these training sessions. The prospects for the network are even brighter. There are plans to extend the network further, expanding the participant count from 30 to 43 trainers to cover additional regions. Each trainer is expected to deliver a minimum of three trainings throughout this year. By the end of 2023, the Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (I-TPO) aims to reach a target of 5,000 participants.

The active involvement of I-TPO in selecting highly qualified experts to ensure the delivery of high-standard workshops, the focus on workshops designed to meet the small and medium-sized companies' needs and the local expert's familiarity with Trade Map contributed to the efficacy of the trainings.

Implementing trainers' toolkits and maintaining regular contact with partners have also been essential in the network's achievements.

EXPORT POTENTIAL MAP

The Export Potential Map spring update is now available, including the latest IMF GDP growth projections and most recent trade data. With this update, we have started accounting for complete trade embargoes between countries and flagging least developed countries, scheduled for graduation.

TRADE MAP

Amid rising temperatures, the Trade Map team is constantly working to enhance the data coverage and is dedicated to providing ever more comprehensive and accurate representation of global trade dynamics.

Global merchandise trade data

Data for Q1-2023 is now available for 59 countries, accounting for 69% of global trade in goods. The Trade Map team also started uploading data for April-2023, which is now available for 41 countries, representing 55% of global trade in goods.

Chart: The latest period available for latest monthly data, number of countries and share of global trade they account for. Interested in fresh monthly data? Please do not hesitate to go to the Data Availability page and discover the most recent data for a product/country of your interest.

Global trade indicators

The 2022 Trade Indicators are now updated! Curious to explore the latest trade developments? Look no further than Trade Map, your go-to resource for up-to-date information, and discover the recent trends for a product/country of your interest. You can now use the 2022 indicators based on data reported by 115 countries (in blue on the map), accounting for more than 89% of global trade in goods.

Note: Latest country data available on 19th May 2023.

Do you need more information? Visit the Data Availability page for more updates.

AFRICAN TRADE OBSERVATORY

The journey to raise awareness and accessibility of the African Trade Observatory (ATO) across the continent continues. In this vein, the ATO online Dashboard was released in Kiswahili, meaning it is now available in all six official languages of the African Union (AU) together with English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

ITC Trade and Market Intelligence

NEWSLETTER

Introducing Trade and Competitiveness Intelligence Tools for West Africa:

Joint ATO-WACOMP Stakeholder Event

New study on "Expanding Arab African Trade - Opportunities fro Export Growth"

ITC unveils first results of business survey in Moldova

More surveys in the Eastern Partnership region

ePing platform launched in Portuguese

Unlocking the export potential of textiles in the Mena Region