January 23, 2026

The world trade volume increased by 2.2% in November 2025 compared to October. That month saw a decrease of 1.4%. This is evident from the monthly CPB World Trade Monitor. The largest increases in import volume were for developed Asia excluding Japan (4.6%) and China (3.9%). For exports, there were increases for China (8%), developed Asia excluding Japan (7.2%), and Japan (6.6%). In the previous month, trade volumes actually declined. Due to the partial shutdown of the US government, official trade figures for the United States for November are not available. These figures are therefore estimated based on bilateral trade flows with the main trading partners of the United States. The estimates amount to a month-on-month increase of 3.1% for import volume and an increase in exports of 0.3%. 

The CPB World Trade Monitor (WTM) is an instrument for bringing together, aggregating, and summarizing worldwide monthly data on international trade and industrial production.

In the WTM, ‘trade’ is trade in goods (also referred to as ‘merchandise trade’). ‘Production’ is industrial production, that is: value added in mining, manufacturing, and utilities (also referred to as ‘industry excluding construction’).

The production monitor covers 85 countries worldwide. These countries account for about 97% of global industrial production. The trade monitor covers 81 countries. Coverage of world trade is almost 99%.

Global developments in international trade and industrial production, November 2025:

  • The world trade volume increased by 2.2% in November compared to October, following a decrease of 1.4% in October (initial estimate: -1.3%).
  • The momentum of world trade was 1.2% in November (not annualized; momentum October: 0.7% equal to initial estimate).
  • Global industrial production decreased by 0.6% in November compared to October (October development: -0.2%, initial estimate: -0.1%).
  • The momentum of global industrial production was 0.5% in November (not annualized; momentum October: 0.5%, equal to initial estimate).

The next monthly CPB World Trade Monitor will be published on February 25 at 12:00.

The CPB publishes the World Trade Monitor monthly on behalf of the European Commission as an instrument to monitor developments in world trade. It takes two months before the figures are available. The next CPB World Trade Monitor for the reporting month December 2025 will be published on February 25, 2026. For questions, contact wtm@cpb.nl.

Also read the accompanying CPB Background Document The CPB World Trade Monitor: technical description (update 2023). If you wish, we can send you an email as soon as a new update of the CPB World Trade Monitor is published. To subscribe to the alert service, register on the registration page for Publications for policymakers.

The World Trade Monitor is co-financed by DG ECFIN (Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission).