Global trade jumps in March thanks to surge in emerging markets

The recent improvement in European business confidence surveys was not just the result of the psychological boost to sentiment from the French elections, UniCredit Research said.

After meagre growth of just 1.6% in 2016, real global trade jumped by 1.5% month-on-month in March, pushing the year-on-year rate of gains to 5.6%, led primarily by exports from emerging markets which surged by nearly 10% on the year, according to the broker.

It was the strongest rise since April 2011, according to UniCredit.

"The latest data confirm that the recovery of the global economy has been well under way, especially in emerging markets. It also flags that yesterday’s strong business sentiment data for the Eurozone and Germany do not just reflect favorable psychological tailwinds such as the outcome of the French presidential election," UniCredit's Dr. Andreas Rees said.

"Instead, companies have been more and more optimistic thanks to improving fundamentals from abroad (and also at home)."

At 3.0% year-on-year, growth in trade among industrialised countries was "less spectacular" although the upward trend continued.