India's trade growth remains buoyant thanks to strong ocean trade

• Ocean imports and exports maintain momentum as key industries experience recovery, causing trade growth index to rise significantly
• India is the only country in the Global Trade Barometer with a positive trade outlook for the next quarter

MUMBAI, INDIA - Media OutReach  - 6 December 2019 -  Strong ocean imports and exports will sustain India's trade growth over the three-month period ending in January 2020, making it the only country out of the world's seven largest economies with a positive trade outlook according to data from the DHL Global Trade Barometer released by DHL, the world's leading logistics company.

The DHL Global Trade Barometer, an early indicator of global trade developments calculated using Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, predict mildly positive growth for Indian trade with the country's Index rising five points to 54.[1] The positive outlook is driven primarily by an uptake in ocean imports of Basic & Industrial Raw Materials and Chemicals & Products, coupled with a gradual revival in air exports of Consumer Fashion Goods.[2] In total, ocean trade grew by 10 points, maintaining India's positive outlook even as air trade forecasts experience relative weakness.

 "India has the strongest trade forecast this quarter and the highest index value of all countries in the latest Global Trade Barometer survey, followed closely by the United Kingdom and Japan," said Niki Frank, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding India. "This highlights the underlying potential of India's economy, which will benefit from the government's plan to invest US$1.39 trillion (€1.26 trillion) in infrastructure projects. The country's commitment to establishing itself as a strategic maritime hub with initiatives and investments in coastal infrastructure appear to be supporting the Index's positive ocean trade outlook and will likely also contribute positively to longer-term trade growth."

Steady but mild decline negatively affects all countries, except India

The Barometer's results also suggest that world trade is expected to continue at moderate pace but further contract for the next three months, driven by minor decreases in both air and containerized ocean trade. Against previous quarters this year, the downward trend in trade growth remains mostly stable, neither indicating an acceleration of the decline nor a bottoming out of contractionary movement. All seven nations monitored by the Barometer received indexes below 50 points except for India, where the Barometer forecasts moderate growth of five points to 54 points for India. While Japan and the UK had been the only countries with positive trade outlooks in the previous update in September, the two countries record the highest losses in this period.

"According to the DHL Global Trade Barometer the year will probably end with moderate world trade. However, we've to bear in mind where we come from: The rapid growth world trade has undergone in recent years was like climbing the Mount Everest. Now, we are on the descent, but we are still breathing altitude air", Tim Scharwath, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, says. "A countless number of stable trade relations continues to flourish worldwide, despite smouldering trade conflicts and geopolitical uncertainties."

About the Global Trade Barometer

Launched in January 2018, the DHL Global Trade Barometer is an innovative and unique early indicator for the current state and future development of global trade. It is based on large amounts of logistics data that are evaluated with the help of artificial intelligence. The indicator is published four times a year and the next release date is scheduled for end of March 2020.

For more information on the DHL Global Trade Barometer, please visit:  logisticsofthings.dhl/gtb . The index is now also available for subscribers of the Bloomberg terminal by using the code "DHLG <GO>".

DHL – The logistics company for the world

DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL family of divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, energy, automotive and retail, a proven commitment to corporate responsibility and an unrivalled presence in developing markets, DHL is decisively positioned as "The logistics company for the world".

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 61 billion euros in 2018.