• Outlook for Chinese trade is being driven mainlyby strong air imports and ocean exports
• Importantgrowth sectors include Machinery Parts, Industrial Raw Materials, and Chemicals& Products

SHANGHAI, CHINA - Media OutReach - 8 April 2019 - Chinese trade is forecasted to grow with an overallindex of 56 despite the speed of growth slowing down, according to data fromthe DHL Global Trade Barometer released by DHL, the world's leading logisticscompany.

The DHL Global Trade Barometer, an earlyindicator of global trade developments calculated using Artificial Intelligenceand Big Data, suggests that China's air imports of Machinery Parts, Chemicals& Products, and Temperature or Climate Controlled goods will be the biggestnear-term contributor to trade growth. While air exports are expected tostagnate, ocean exports will grow for sectors like Machinery Parts, IndustrialRaw Materials and Personal & Household Goods. Both air and ocean shipment volumeshave decreased by 3 and 1 points respectively, but overall trade is still expectedto remain stable with no decline for the next three months.

"Despite potential softening in some industries,Chinese trade continues to grow steadily as it pursues new trade opportunitiesalong the Belt and Road, the most recent being the 29-deal memorandum ofunderstanding signed with Italy worth US$2.8 billion,[1]"said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Greater China. "This latestdevelopment highlights that despite pessimistic economic and political rhetoricsurrounding China's economy, the country's trade continues to maintain momentumas it improves connectivity, deepens the cooperation in logistics networks, andsimplifies market access between Asia and Europe."

The Barometer's results also suggest that globaltrade growth looks set to slow down over the next three months, signaling onlya slight growth. However, the top three nations with the highest indexes are allin Asia, namely India, Japan, and China. Indices for all seven countries thatconstitute the Global Trade Barometer index -- including the US, UK and Germany-- are above 50 points except for South Korea. In the Global Trade Barometermethodology, an index value above 50 indicates positive growth, while valuesbelow 50 indicate contraction.

Launched in January 2018, the DHL Global TradeBarometer is an innovative and unique early indicator for the current state andfuture development of global trade. It is based on large amounts of logisticsdata that are evaluated with the help of artificial intelligence. In order to makethis valuable data accessible for academic research and to increase themacroeconomic significance of the indicator, DHL recently entered into researchcooperation with Eswar S. Prasad, Professor of Trade Policy and Economics atCornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. The indicator is published four times ayear and the next release date is scheduled for June 2019.

You can find the press release for download aswell as further information on dpdhl.com/pressreleases

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