A “rebound” in global trade is underway, and the U.S. and China are the big beneficiaries, according to a new report from .
For suppliers, however, the news isn’t all good. Tradeshift’s , which measures purchases, orders and invoices in B2B activity, shows total transaction volumes improving by one point over the previous quarter, and three points shy of the anticipated range for the first quarter of 2024. And while that result seems underwhelming — it was the ninth straight quarter of growth falling short of expectations — Q1 marked “the third consecutive quarter of upward momentum after a prolonged period of sluggish activity,” Tradeshift said.
While global trade overall appears to be “inching closer to a recovery,” the U.S. and China saw “robust” growth in the first quarter.
China looks to be on a recovery curve, after prior momentum “petered out alarmingly” in the second half of 2023. According to China’s official , the nation’s manufacturing sector ceased to contract for the first time in six months. The U.
S., meanwhile, kept on gaining momentum in the first quarter, with total trade registering one point above the baseline. Order volumes were a full seven points higher than expected, matching growth in the prior quarter, Tradeshift said.
Bottom line: Tradeshift sees “growth coming in part from an uptick in demand across the manufacturing sector, where trade activity tipped back into the expected range for the first time in a year.” Th.
