GENEVA, Switzerland – Newly released trade statistics from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) reveal the latest trends in global international trade by country.
The timing of this data release is critical. It comes just ahead of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon from 26 to 29 March. The data can inform the members’ negotiations and discussions on challenges facing the multilateral trading system and the need for reform to address key development priorities.
By joining forces, UNCTAD and the WTO have compiled precise and robust trade statistics, underscoring the value of close institutional collaboration in tracking global trade dynamics at a time of growing uncertainty.
The longstanding collaboration between the two organisations in producing this data provides a trusted and credible evidence base that is highly needed at times of rising unilateral measures and trade tensions.
Robust growth in global trade value in 2025
The figures suggest that the discussions at MC14 will take place in the context of an overall expansion of global trade in 2025, across both in merchandise and services, though with considerable disparities in growth across countries and regions.
In 2025, the value of world merchandise exports increased by 7.2 percent. Global exports amounted to $26.3 trillion. Developing economies recorded a modest increase in their aggregated trade surplus.
Marked regional differences in merchandise export trends
The developing economies’ substantial increase of exports (+8.7%) was strongly driven by the larger representatives of that group, including China (+5.5%), Taiwan Province of China (+35.1%), Hong Kong, China (+16.7%) and Viet Nam (+16.8%).
Several African least developed countries achieved high rates of growth, especially the Central African Republic (+110.3%), Burkina Faso (+96.4%), and Burundi (89.6%).
Services exports post another year of strong growth
World services exports surpassed $9.5 trillion in 2025, marking another year of strong growth with an 8.2 percent annual increase. By region, the highest growth of total services exports was recorded in Africa – 14 percent in Northern Africa and 13 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a group, developing economies are moving towards the Sustainable Development Goal of capturing a larger share of world services exports. However, removing their five leading exporters paints a gloomier picture for the group. The remaining developing economies lost market share over the last decade.
All main services categories, except transport, saw solid growth in international trade. Transport services exports grew by a modest 2 percent amid tariff changes and security concerns affecting transport routes.
