MENA, Russia Trade To Grow 14%

MENA trade flows will grow fastest with Russia, India and China between 2012 and 2020, according to the latest report from Ernst & Young.

The region’s trade with Russia will grow at 14.4 per cent per annum, with India at 13.5 per cent and with China at 12.5 per cent.

Meanwhile MENA trade growth with the US (8.4 per cent), Europe (7.7 per cent) and Japan (7.3 per cent) will lag behind the global trade growth average of 9.4 per cent per annum, said the report.

“Trade will be increasingly focused around Asia, the Middle East and Africa, suggesting that the key geographical location for companies will change,” said Bassam Hage, MENA Markets Leader at Ernst & Young.

Total exports to the MENA region are forecast to grow more rapidly than exports to the US, Europe, Japan and the rest of the Americas, he said. In fact Europe’s exports to the region are forecast to be around 50 per cent larger than its exports to the US.

“Although these new markets represent potentially exciting new opportunities, companies in developed nations will face increasing competition from firms in Asia, as well as Latin America, when seeking to supply these expanding sources of demand,” he said.

In the MENA region, the fastest-growing sectors will be metals, chemicals, other manufactures and machinery and transport equipment, with average annual rates of expansion of around 11 per cent, he added.

Asia-Pacific will experience the fastest growth in global trade through to 2020, the report said.