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    Lehman Brothers fails and world trade collapses in global-network

Event A1 · Financial crisis

Lehman Brothers fails and world trade collapses

Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008. The volume of world trade fell 12.2% in 2009, the largest decline since the Second World War, the WTO reported.

  • 15 Sep 2008 – 30 Jun 2009dates
  • 1economies named
  • 3products watched
  • 8sources

Before and after

All goods, May 2009 against May 2008, lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Economies are coloured by the change in their trade; the economies the event names have a dashed ring.

May 2009, change against May 2008

Loading the network…

What to watch The 2009 trough in annual and monthly views, and how fast each chain and each economy climbed back to its 2008 level.

Measured, not asserted

Changes on a year earlier and in partner shares between May 2008 and May 2009. They say what moved in the window, not why it moved.

World trade in all goods: change on a year earlier

World trade in all goods, lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier): – in May 2008 (the base), – in May 2009. Lowest since the base: −20.9% in Jun 2020.

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

The named economies’ all goods trade, May 2009 against a year earlier

Grey rows: the economy had not filed its own report for May 2009; the change is read from its partners’ reports.Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

Diversion: partner shares, May 2008 to May 2009

Largest move: United States → Korea, −2.1 pp (14% → 12%).

Each bar is one partner’s share of the economy’s imports (A → B: A supplies B) or exports (A → B: A sells to B), May 2008 against May 2009.Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

Who gained and lost share of world all goods exports

Shares of world all goods exports, May 2008 to May 2009: gained most: Korea +0.7 pp; lost most: Russia −0.6 pp.

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

Who gained and lost share of world passenger cars exports

Shares of world passenger cars exports, May 2008 to May 2009: gained most: Czechia +1.5 pp; lost most: Germany −3.3 pp.

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

Who gained and lost share of world flat-rolled steel (hot, cold, coated) exports

Shares of world flat-rolled steel (hot, cold, coated) exports, May 2008 to May 2009: gained most: Korea +5.5 pp; lost most: China −3.8 pp.

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

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 2008 is the last spring before Lehman; Mar–May 2009 is the trough (the WTO has world trade in manufactures −29.8% on a year earlier in Q2 2009, and the NBER dates the end of the US recession to June 2009). Only 37 and 41 economies filed monthly data for these months (Korea through its customs service), about a quarter of 2024 world exports; from January 2010 the monthly data have over 100 reporters.

  1. Product definition

    World exports of All goods −32.5% between May 2008 and May 2009 ($2.0tn → $1.4tn, Mar–May windows), against the 12.2% fall in the volume of world trade in 2009 in the dek. The 12.2% is the WTO's volume measure for the whole of 2009; in current dollars world merchandise exports fell 23% to $12.15 trillion, largely on lower oil and commodity prices. The WTO's quarterly table has world trade in manufactures −27.6% on a year earlier in Q1 2009 and −29.8% in Q2; and the world measured here is only the economies that filed monthly data. [3]

  2. How the data are reported

    United States · imports −29.9% ($93.1bn → $65.2bn) and exports −25.2% ($74.6bn → $55.8bn), both grey. UNSD began collecting monthly data in 2010 (49 countries by 2 July 2010). For these months the monthly data behind this page have 37 and 41 reporters, about a quarter of 2024 world exports, so the US figures are its trade with those economies, Germany, Korea, France and Italy among them. The US's own May 2009 release: exports −21.3%, imports −31.3% on May 2008 (goods and services). [5] [6]

  3. Prices and exchange rates

    Russia 2.4% → 1.8%, Norway 2.2% → 1.9% and Angola 0.92% → 0.63% of world All goods exports (May 2008 → May 2009). Values are in dollars and oil halved: Brent averaged $122.80 a barrel in May 2008 and $57.30 in May 2009. The WTO has the dollar value of exports from the Middle East, Africa and the CIS down 33%, 32% and 36% in 2009 against 23% for the world, due to the sharp drop in oil prices between 2008 and 2009. [3] [7]

  4. Overlapping event

    Passenger cars: Germany 40.0% → 36.7% and France 9.2% → 7.7% of world exports; Romania 0.27% → 1.0% and Italy 3.5% → 4.0% (May 2008 → May 2009). Eleven euro-area countries ran car scrapping schemes from December 2008, most to the end of 2009. The ECB says they shifted sales towards smaller and cheaper cars; German car imports rose 11.5% between January and May 2009, in particular small and less expensive cars from France, Italy, Slovakia and Romania, while euro-area motor-vehicle output was down 31.1% on a year earlier in Q2 2009. [8]

Partner shares, economy by economy

Each named economy’s five largest partners over the window, in fixed colours, with the rest as Other. The table gives the change in percentage points between May 2008 and May 2009.

Product

United States: all goods imports by supplier

Germany: 29.3% in May 2008, 27.5% in May 2009 (−1.8 pp).

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

United States: all goods exports by destination

Germany: 24.7% in May 2008, 25.4% in May 2009 (+0.7 pp).

Source: UN Comtrade monthly data, all reporters that filed; mirror rule; lens M (3-month sum against a year earlier). Korea, Jun 2005–Nov 2009: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.

Exports as the partners report them: United States has not filed these months.

Timeline

  1. Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [1]
  2. G20 in London commits at least $250bn to trade finance [2]
  3. WTO: world trade volume fell 12.2% in 2009 [3]
  4. NBER dates the end of the US recession to June 2009 [4]

What else changed

World exports of all goods changed −32.5% between May 2008 and May 2009.

No other event in the catalogue falls in the same window.

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

Who has filed

41 economies had filed May 2009, 27% of 2024 world exports. Not yet filed for the latest months on the charts (to Nov 2009): United States (imports, exports).

Sources

  1. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Form 8-K, Item 1.03 Bankruptcy or Receivership · US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 19 Sep 2008
  2. Global Plan for Recovery and Reform: statement issued by the G20 leaders, London · G20 (text at the G20 Information Centre, University of Toronto) · 2 Apr 2009
  3. Trade to expand by 9.5% in 2010 after a dismal 2009, WTO reports (PRESS/598) · World Trade Organization · 26 Mar 2010
  4. Business Cycle Dating Committee Announcement September 20, 2010 · National Bureau of Economic Research · 20 Sep 2010
  5. International Trade Statistics Newsletter, Number 21, June 2010: UN Comtrade monthly and quarterly data · United Nations Statistics Division, International Merchandise Trade Statistics Section · no date; accessed 25 Oct 2026
  6. U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, May 2009 (CB09-101, BEA09-32, FT-900 (09-05)) · US Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis · 10 Jul 2009
  7. Crude Oil Prices: Brent - Europe, monthly (MCOILBRENTEU; source U.S. Energy Information Administration) · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · no date; accessed 25 Oct 2026
  8. The effects of vehicle scrapping schemes across euro area countries (Box 4, Monthly Bulletin, October 2009) · European Central Bank · no date; accessed 25 Oct 2026

No case study is built on this event yet.

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