World exports hit after the pandemic: PIE
23:21
The pandemic negatively affected foreign trade and the exchange of goods between countries around the world. However, China's rapid return to manufacturing has allowed it to rise to the top of world exports. Poland is also successful in this matter, as it avoided a major crisis thanks to partial diversification of the supply chain, for example in the automotive sector. On the other hand, the situation is much worse in the United States, which suffered from a large drop in exports – and thus an increase in imports.
"After the crisis broke out in 2020, China was unable to deliver goods to international markets. When the situation calmed down, they resumed production activities the fastest," Marek Wąsiński, head of the foreign trade team at the Polish Economic Institute, said.
"It can be said that in terms of trade, China gained the most from the pandemic, as its share of world exports increased by 1.6 percent. However, it was not only Asia that saw an increase in its share of global exports. Poland took 6th place, gaining an increase of 0.14 percent. It turned out that Poland did relatively well during the pandemic, and its exports decreased by only 0.3 percent on an annual basis. Poland owes its strong position, among others, to its diversified commodity structure. On the other hand, the USA is one of the countries whose exports fell most sharply. The reasons are pandemic problems and restrictions, and exports are less competitive in 2020," Wąsiński said.
