Trade among ASEAN countries decline

DHL, the international logistics company, has said in a press release that a
study commissioned by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on regional trade flows, Trading up: A New Export Landscape for ASEAN and Asia, shows that Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN)  is at the cross-roads on pursuing deeper integration among fellow member-countries.

The share of exports to China from all ASEAN countries in the study, except Vietnam, has risen sharply while intra-ASEAN trade has shown a declining trend.

The release of the study is timed to coincide with the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ASEAN-BIS), which DHL has been a key sponsor for the past five years.

The study concentrated on the ASEAN bloc's six largest economies -
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - and
analysed the trade of its closest regional competitors, China, Japan and
India. Shifting import and export trends from 2000 to 2007 are analysed focusing particularly on the role played by high-value exports as compared with lower-value bulk commodity goods.

The report shows that trading volumes have changed over the past seven
years, the composition of trade has shifted, and, most importantly, trade
flows have realigned to respond to changing economic and business
conditions.DHL believes that for ASEAN to sustain growth, governments and businesses alike have to understand how trade patterns and flows are
evolving, particularly as new centres of manufacturing such as China and
India rise in the global trading system.

"Our role as a trade facilitator goes beyond the movement of goods to the
pursuit of trade patterns and how they are changing across Asia and
globally," said Dan McHugh, CEO, DHL Express - Asia Pacific.  "This report provides ASEAN governments with an understanding of the evolving trade patterns within and outside of ASEAN, as well as equipping businesses with the insights to re-assess their strategies in the new export landscape."