Despite dire warnings of a precipitous drop in global trade as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest figures from the World Trade Organization (WTO) show that trade volumes recovered more quickly than expected in 2020, while the outlook for 2021 is relatively positive – albeit with several important caveats.
In its latest trade forecast, the WTO predicts that world merchandise trade volume will increase by 8% in 2021 and 4% in 2022. The organisation also published its final figures for trade in 2020, which show a year-on-year contraction of 5.3% in 2020 – a far cry from the drop of as much as 32%
“The sheer extent of pandemic-related uncertainty led the WTO’s trade forecast to explore two distinct scenarios for how Covid-19 would impact global trade,” the report says. The first was a relatively optimistic scenario, with a sharp drop followed by a recovery starting in the second half of 2020, while the second was a more downcast outlook, with a steeper initial dec
The International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I) has approved TradeLens’ electronic bill of lading (eBL) system for use by its members, taking the total number of eBLs it accepts to seven.
Made up of 13 protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs, the IGP&I as a whole provides marine liability cover for approximately 90% of the world’s ocean-going tonnage. Previously, the IGP&I’s rules specifically excluded liabilities in respect of the carriage of cargo under all electronic systems to the extent that the liabilities under such systems would not have arisen under a traditional paper system.
This changed in February 2010, when the group decided that these liabilities would be covered, but only on systems that it had first approved. It then greenlighted electronic bills of lading (eBLs) administered by essDocs and Bolero. In 2015 it added Singapore-based eTitle to its list, and then in June 2019, edoxOnline was added – the first group-approved system to use blockchain technology, with
Accounting firm Grant Thornton – appointed to recover funds owed to Greensill after its
collapse into insolvency last month – has reportedly been unable to verify invoices used by Gupta-owned companies to raise financing from the London-headquartered lender.
According to the
FT, citing correspondence and sources familiar with the matter, Grant Thornton has approached several companies with outstanding invoices from Gupta’s trading firm Liberty Commodities – only to be told by those companies that no trading relationship existed between those parties.
In one example, German scrap metals trader RPS Siegen told reporters last week that “a trading relationship between us does not exist”, when presented with a Liberty Commodities invoice.
A Moroccan fertiliser company says it has executed the first use of blockchain for an intra-African trade finance transaction, in a deal facilitated by the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB).
OCP Group, a state-owned phosphate mining and fertiliser producer, says US$270mn-worth of phosphate fertiliser exports to an Ethiopian buyer were executed through a blockchain platform provided by Singapore fintech dltledgers, with the total deal worth US$400mn.
The remaining transfers will be completed in “upcoming months” says TDB, the Nairobi-based development finance institution.
OCP Group says the use of blockchain for trade finance deals is part of its digitisation strategy. In a joint statement, the companies involved in the deal say that the use of blockchain allows the trades to take place in under two hours, compared to over three weeks through the traditional banking system.
HSBC has provided two green guarantees for suppliers to offshore wind energy installations in Taiwan, the latest in a string of deals as the island ramps up plans to switch from nuclear to renewable energy.
The two guarantees total NT$310mn (US$10.9mn). The first, valued at NT$240mn and with a validity of one year, is being issued to Century Iron and Steel Industrial, a Taiwan-based company which is providing 69 pin piles to
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for the Changfang and Xidao offshore wind farm. Once operational, the wind farm is expected to supply Taiwan with 589MW of energy – forming a crucial part of the country’s strategy to switch 20% of its energy production to renewable sources within the next five years.