WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic

Reading the numbers

Documented context for the figures above that run against the event’s headline. The measurements stand as they are; each item cites its sources.

Mar–May 2020 is the quarter of the Western lockdowns and of China's restart after its January–February shutdown (exports −17.2% in January–February at China's customs); the base, Mar–May 2019, sits inside the US–China tariff war, with world trade already −1.8% on a year earlier. In the series on this page China's exports were +6.6% and imports +8.1% on a year earlier by November 2020.

1. How the data are reported

   China's All goods exports −9.5% ($639.9bn → $579.0bn), Mar–May 2019 → Mar–May 2020. China's customs put exports at −6.6% in March, +3% in April and −3% in May 2020 on a year earlier in dollars. This page draws a flow from the importer's report where it filed as many months, so China's exports here are mostly partners' import figures: China → United States is the US report, $109.8bn → $91.7bn (−16.5%). [7] [8] [9]

2. Share effect

   China 13.4% → 15.2% of world All goods exports (+1.8 pp) while its exports fell 9.5% and world trade 20.0%; masks: 55.1% → 87.5% of world exports, +1380%. The WTO counts world trade −14% in the first half of 2020 and medical goods +16%: China supplied 56% of world face-mask exports, and its exports of COVID-19-critical products tripled from $18bn to $55bn, 12% to 29% of the world total. China's white paper counts 70.6 billion masks and 96,700 ventilators exported from 1 March to 31 May 2020. [11] [12]

3. Prices and exchange rates

   China's All goods imports −10.9% ($487.3bn → $434.1bn); UAE 1.3% → 0.80% and Saudi Arabia 1.3% → 1.00% of world exports. Brent averaged $18.38 a barrel in April 2020, against $71.23 a year earlier. BOFIT attributes about 5 points of China's 14% import fall in April to crude oil alone; in May China imported a record volume of crude for about $15bn less than it would have cost in May 2019. The WTO counts fuels and mining trade −38% in the second quarter as prices collapsed. [4] [8] [9] [10]

4. How the data are reported

   Taiwan → China: 8.5% → 10.4% of China's imports (+2.0 pp); Taiwan 2.4% → 3.1% of world All goods exports. Taiwan is not a reporter in UN Comtrade, so every Taiwan flow here is the partner's report: Taiwan → China is China's import record. Taiwan's finance ministry put May 2020 exports at −2.0% ($27bn), with telecommunications products and tech gadgets up nearly 11% on telecommuting demand and exports to the mainland and Hong Kong up 10.3% to $12.12bn. [13] [14] [15]

Timeline

1. 30 Jan 2020WHO declares a public health emergency of international concern [2]
2. 11 Mar 2020WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic [1]
3. 8 Apr 2020WTO: world merchandise trade set to fall by 13% to 32% in 2020 [3]
4. 6 Oct 2020WTO: second-quarter fall of 14.3% is the largest on record [4]
5. 31 Mar 2021WTO: trade volume fell 5.3% in 2020 [5]
6. 5 May 2023WHO ends the public health emergency [6]

What else changed

World exports of all goods changed −20% between May 2019 and May 2020.

Values are in US dollars: prices and exchange rates move them as well as volumes, and this page does not separate them. None of the numbers here says why trade moved.

Documented context for the figures that run against the headline is in “Reading the numbers”, with sources.

Coverage

Sources

1. WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020 · World Health Organization · 11 Mar 2020
2. Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) · World Health Organization · 30 Jan 2020
3. Trade set to plunge as COVID-19 pandemic upends global economy (PRESS/855) · World Trade Organization · 8 Apr 2020
4. Trade shows signs of rebound from COVID-19, recovery still uncertain (PRESS/862) · World Trade Organization · 6 Oct 2020
5. World trade primed for strong but uneven recovery after COVID-19 pandemic shock (PRESS/876) · World Trade Organization · 31 Mar 2021
6. Statement on the fifteenth meeting of the IHR (2005) Emergency Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic · World Health Organization · 5 May 2023
7. China March exports slump slows to 6.6% year-on-year, imports down 0.9% · Reuters (Gabriel Crossley, Lusha Zhang), via WHBL · 13 Apr 2020
8. Chinese goods exports performed surprisingly well in April, while imports from the US contracted sharply (BOFIT Weekly Review 20/2020) · Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) · 15 May 2020
9. Lower commodity prices reduce value of Chinese imports in May; exports down just slightly (BOFIT Weekly Review 24/2020) · Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) · 12 Jun 2020
10. Europe Brent Spot Price FOB, monthly (dollars per barrel) · U.S. Energy Information Administration · 21 Oct 2026
11. Trade in medical goods in the context of tackling COVID-19: developments in the first half of 2020 (information note) · World Trade Organization · 22 Dec 2020
12. Fighting COVID-19: China in Action (white paper, full text) · State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, via China Daily Global · 8 Jun 2020
13. Taiwan cautious on trade outlook as May exports fall again · Reuters (Yimou Lee, Liang-sa Loh), via WHBL · 8 Jun 2020
14. Taiwan's exports keep shrinking · Xinhua, via China Services Info · 10 Jun 2020
15. Reporters reference table (Reporters.json) · UN Comtrade · 1 Oct 2026

Related case studies and chains

• Case 1 Lockdowns travel along supply chains