Merchandise trade exports in the Group of Seven countries rose by a slight, seasonally-adjusted 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared with the previous quarter. Import volume growth continued to shrink, falling 0.1%. On a year-on-year basis, G7 trade volumes continued to grow, but at lower rates, with exports 5.9% higher and imports up 3.6%.

Compared with the previous quarter, Germany’s merchandise trade growth remained above the G7 average with exports up 1.7% and imports up 1.3%. On a year-on-year basis, exports rose 11.7% while imports grew at a more modest rate of 3.4%.

In the United States, quarter-on-quarter trade exports grew 2.5%, well above G7 average, while imports declined by 1.0% for the first time in two years.. This pattern is also reflected on a year-on-year basis with exports up 9.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006 and import volume growth remaining below the G7 average at 3.0%.

Japanese merchandise exports fell 0.6% compared with the previous quarter while imports continued to grow, rising 0.9%. Year-on-year, export volumes were up 4.3% while imports rose 4.8%.

Export growth of goods and services in OECD countries, measured in current US dollars, increased to a seasonally-adjusted 3.1% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2006. In contrast the growth in imports slowed to 0.9% in the same period. The slowdown in import growth was entirely related to the slowdown in goods imports which grew only 0.5% in Q4, while service imports grew 2.7%.

Year-on-year OECD export value growth for goods and services increased to 15.9%, while import growth slowed slightly to 13.4%. Services trade growth year-on-year both for exports and imports lagged slightly behind the corresponding goods trade growth.