International trade

Seasonally adjusted world export volumes increased by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 1.2% in the previous quarter.

In developing economies, export growth turned negative, with export volumes declining by 0.5%, compared with an increase of 1.0% in the first quarter of 2026.

In developed economies, export growth remained broadly stable, at 1.1% in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 1.2% in the previous quarter.

In 2025, the region with the most diversified exports across product groups was Europe, as indicated by a product concentration index of exports of 0.06, whereas Western Asia and Northern Africa (0.26) was the region with the most concentrated export structure by product. Exports of Oceania (0.24) and Sub-Saharan Africa (0.21) were slightly more dispersed. Looking at individual economies, South Sudan (0.99), Sint Maarten (0.93), Kiribati (0.89), Nauru (0.87) and Micronesia (0.85) showed the least diversification of exports by product.

Looking at the geographic distribution of exports across economies of origin, over the last 20 years, manufactured products have been showing the highest concentration of global supply. In 2025, the market concentration index of exports of that product group stood at 0.20. Fuels and the group of ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold ranked second and third, with index values of 0.15, where the latter recorded a considerable increase in market concentration in the last year. Since 2011, food has been the product group of which exports are the most dispersed by origin economy, with a continuously decreasing trend in market concentration, showing an index score of 0.12 in 2025.

For the 2022–2024 average, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) recorded an overall Theil export concentration index of 5.14, well above 3.26 for other developing economies and 2.89 for developed economies. Higher Theil concentration indicates that LDCs' exports are less diversified than other countries.

Decomposition of the index shows that market concentration is the main driver of this pattern. LDCs’ market concentration index reached 3.27, compared with 2.27 in other developing economies and 2.08 in developed economies, indicating a strong reliance on a limited number of destination markets. Product concentration is also markedly higher in LDCs (1.87) than elsewhere (0.99 and 0.81), reflecting dependence on a narrow range of export products.

Overall, LDCs face a double diversification gap, across both products and markets, leaving their export earnings more exposed to external shocks.

In 2025, the terms of trade declined by 0.8% in developing economies, reflecting a 1.3% deterioration in developing economies Asia and Oceania. In contrast, developed economies experienced a 1.2% improvement compared to the previous year. 
Across developing regions, the strongest gains were recorded in developing Africa and developing Americas where the terms of trade increased by 2.5% and 1%, respectively. 
Least Developed Countries registered the most pronounced improvement with 3.8% increase from 2024. 
An improvement in the terms of trade means a country can obtain more imports for the same amount of exports, effectively increasing its real income and reducing economic strain.