UN report: China, the only country sees positive trade growth in Q3

Despite signs of a fragile rebound led by China in the third quarter, the value of global trade is set to fall by 7 percent to 9 percent in 2020 from the previous year, the report said.

In the second quarter, no region was spared by an estimated 19 percent year-on-year plunge in world trade, hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in the economy, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.

The organization estimated the global trade to shrink by 4.5 percent year on year in the third quarter and decrease by 3 percent in the fourth quarter, as the global trade is slowly rebounding.

''Trade in home office equipment and medical supplies has increased in Q3, while it further weakened in the automotive and energy sectors,'' UNCTAD said. Growth in the textile sector was also strong.

In the third quarter, China's imports and exports have recovered significantly, with exports achieving a strong rebound of more than 10 percent and imports stabilizing in July and August and jumping more than 13 percent in September.

Economist Alessandro Nichita at the UNCTAD told Xinhua News Agency that China's trade in the third quarter recovered faster and wider. While the export of medical supplies continued to grow, the exports of electronic products, machinery and equipment, and chemical products have also begun to recover.

''China has greatly eased the downward trend of global trade through its own good performance,'' he said.