新冠疫情背景下的医疗物资贸易发展形势（2020年上半年）（英文）

22 December 2020 Page: 1/12 Original: English TRADE IN MEDICAL GOODS IN THE CONTEXT OF TACKLING COVID-19: DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2020 INFORMATION NOTE1 KEY POINTS: • While total world trade declined by 14 per cent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, imports and exports of medical goods increased by 16 per cent, reaching US$ 1,139 billion in value.2 • Trade played a critical role in meeting skyrocketing demand for products considered critical in the COVID-19 pandemic, with global trade in these products growing by 29 per cent. • Total imports of face protection products in the first half of 2020 increased by 90 per cent compared to the same period last year. Trade in textile face masks has grown about six-fold. • China was the top supplier of face masks, accounting for 56 per cent of world exports. To ramp up mask manufacturing, China leaned heavily on imports of intermediate input materials: its imports of non-woven fabric tripled in April 2020 compared with the same month of 2019, with Japan and the United States as the leading suppliers. China was also the sixth-largest importer of face masks in the first half of 2020. • Among the different types of face masks, textile masks are the most traded despite facing the highest tariffs. • Leading importers of COVID-19-critical products registered double-digit import growth compared to 2019, including 62 per cent in France and 52 per cent in Italy. • Chinese exports of COVID-19-critical medical products more than tripled based on year-on-year data for the first half of the year, from US$ 18 billion to US$ 55 billion. 1 INTRODUCTION This report updates the information note "Trade in medical goods in the context of tackling COVID-19", issued on 3 April 2020. It presents preliminary trade statistics from 97 economies for the first half of 2020. Comparisons are made in terms of year-on-year growth rates for the first half of 2019. This update includes a special case study of face masks, since the most visible symbols of the fight against the pandemic have also been heavily traded. 1 This document has been prepared under the WTO Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice to the positions of WTO members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO. 2 The values of imports and exports in this study are calculated at the Harmonized System (HS) six-digit subheading level. Those subheadings can cover products that are for non-medical use. 2 2 DESPITE THE OVERALL TRADE DOWNTURN, MEDICAL GOODS UNDERWENT PHENOMENAL GROWTH IN 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the global economy and international trade. Recent statistics3 show that global trade in the first half of 2020 registered a 14 per cent year-on-year decline and was 15 per cent lower than trade in the second half of 2019. Trade in medical goods, perhaps not surprisingly, has surged,4 growing 15.8 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2020, much higher than