Unique new HSBC online tool for companies seeking global opportunities

Bringing together for the first time information from the United Nation’s Comtrade database, the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund’s Direction of Trade Statistics, the trade tool features comprehensive trade data for 48 different countries.

An interactive world map allows users to view a country’s percentage of world trade and shows how a country ranks in trade importance. In addition, it focuses on the top ten trading partners, split by sector so businesses can identify which countries hold the most opportunities for them. It features imports and exports, valued in US$bn, to each of its top trading partners - demonstrating the most potentially valuable relationships for businesses to build on.

For instance, the tool shows that in 2009 Germany accounted for 8.2% of world trade, exported $113bn worth of goods to France but faced the greatest competition in its chief export, motor vehicles, from Great Britain, the USA, Italy, France and China.

The trade tool can be accessed via the HSBC Trade Connections’website www.hsbc.com/tradeconnections, and features a wealth of analysis and insight for businesses that are exploring further international opportunities.

Mark Emmerson, Head of Trade and Supply Chain Europe, HSBC, commented: “An increasing number of companies, from more countries and sectors than ever before, are trading internationally. The unique trade tool has been specifically designed to help distil complex information into a user-friendly format, and will allow businesses to explore the world’s changing trade patterns and further their understanding of how businesses in their particular sector are performing around the world.”

The new resource is part of the bank’s Trade Connections campaign to provide European businesses with the insight and knowledge they need to maximise potential overseas opportunities. Recently, HSBC hosted 30 of Europe’s leading businesses on a Trade Exchange to Shanghai, where European and Asian business leaders will gather to explore the immense trade potential already evidenced in China, and discussed how European businesses can best redefine their business plans in a global context.

Michel Cordina, Head of Commercial Banking Malta plc said: “Naturally, this shift to a more globalised outlook presents both challenges and opportunities for firms looking beyond the boundaries of their domestic market. Through the Trade Exchange HSBC will bring together some of the best business thinkers and entrepreneurial leaders to help European businesses understand the way the world is changing and how they can benefit.”