The latest barometer reading of 110.4% growth in the highest on record since the indicator was first released in July 2016, and up over 20 points year-on-year, the WTO said.

Such a rise reflected both the strength of current trade growth and the depth of last year´s pandemic-induced shock. All sub-indices of the barometer, a real-time trend gauge for trade, were above trend in the latest month, the organization said.

Global trade in goods has grown steadily after a sharp decline in Q2 2020, it underlined, adding that the volume of merchandise trade rose 5.7% year-on-year in Q1 2021.

pgh/Pll/oda / crc/gdc