According to the The World Trade Organization, overall global trade is likely to drop between 13 and 32 percent due to the crisis. World trade volume in goods, including apparel and textiles, is forecast to drop between 13 and 32 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday.

The pessimistic scenario of a 32 percent or more drop assumes a steeper initial decline and a more prolonged and incomplete recovery. Regarding global trade in goods last year, the value fell by 3 percent to $18.88 trillion, with the world’s top exporter, China, registering no growth at $2.49 trillion, followed by the U.S. with a 1 percent contraction to $1.64 trillion and Germany with a 5 percent fall to $1.48 trillion.

In apparel, preliminary estimates by WTO economists indicate the value of exports stagnated in 2019, with almost zero growth from the $494 billion notched in 2018. In 2019, WTO data show, China, the world’s biggest apparel exporter, registered a 4 percent decline to $151.5 billion. In the first two months of 2020, China’s exports of apparel (according to customs data) were down around 20 percent year-on-year, the WTO said. Neighboring Vietnam posted a 9 percent increase in 2019 to $30.8 billion.