Global Trade to Slow Due to War in Ukraine Shocking Supply of Key Goods, WTO Says

Global gross domestic product growth is set to slow to pre-COVID-19 levels of around 3.1% to 3.7% for 2022 due to Russia's war in Ukraine, the World Trade Organization said. Pulling the stat from an April 11 note from the WTO Secretariat, the WTO cited a global economic simulation model projecting that the crisis in Ukraine could lower global GDP growth by 0.7%-1.3%. Global trade growth could be 2.4%-3%, slashed from the 4.7% mark the WTO forecast in October, the WTO said.

Russia and Ukraine are key suppliers of essential products such as food and energy, making them small but essential cogs in the global trading scheme. Ukraine and Russia together supplied around 25% of global wheat, 15% of barley and 45% of sunflower product exports in 2019, the WTO said. Russia itself was responsible for 9.4% of world trade in fuels. Russia is also one of the world's largest suppliers of palladium and rhodium, used for producing automobile catalytic converters.