World Trade

Despite all the chatter about double dips, government debt crises, and asset bubbles, the volume of world exports rose to a new record high at the end of last year. This data series, which is compiled by the Netherlands’ Bureau for Economic Policy (CPB), is very highly correlated with the OECD’s measure of global industrial production, which hit a new record high at the end of last year. We update this chart regularly for subscribers in World Trade Alert.

The world exports series is also highly correlated with the CRB raw industrials spot price index, which is also at a record high. These three measures all attest to the resilience of the global boom.