WTO Releases Update to Statistical Profiles on Trade in Value-Added for 66 Economies

The WTO on 30 March released statistical profiles covering 66 economies, which reveal the domestic and foreign value-added contents in exports and the interconnectedness of the world’s economies. The latest set of “Trade in Value-Added and Global Value Chains” profiles includes, for the first time, reports for Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar and an expanded section on trade in intermediate products.

The profiles draw from the OECD's Trade in Value-Added (TiVA) database and provide an update to the profiles published in 2019. They highlight the cross-border exchange of parts and components taking place within global value chains (GVCs), affirming that economies rely on imports from partners in order to export. An explanatory note provides guidance on the definitions and interpretation of the indicators in the profiles.

In each profile, the first section shows the shares of domestic and foreign components in an economy's total exports and how these have changed between 2010 and 2018, the latest year for which data are available. Breakdowns are further provided for an economy's top export industries and top export destinations.

The second section quantifies each economy's level of participation in GVCs as a supplier and as a buyer of intermediate products, with the top GVC partners indicated. The third section sheds light on the contribution of the services sector to exports.

The fourth section, on trade in intermediate products, presents 2020 values and the 2010-2020 growth of an economy's trade in intermediate products for both merchandise and services. It now includes some details by main product group and partner and adds information on the value-added contained in the main intermediate product groups.

A separate set of profiles showing global trade in value-added by sector will be released later in the year.