International Trade

The resilience of Ukrainian businesses deserves special attention. Entrepreneurs have not only survived the beginning of the war, but continue to develop their businesses. According to a survey, as of March 2022, only 13% of enterprises were operating as they were prior to the war, 48% were operating at partial efficiency, and 35% suspended operations and were waiting for better times. 

At the ICC UAE Trade Facilitation Summit in Dubai, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Vincent O’Brien, director of ICC United Arab Emirates (ICC UAE) and associate director of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice (IIBLP), to learn more about trade in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

VIDEO: Learn more about the letter of credit and the rules governing its use in this four-part interview series with Pradeep Taneja of ICC Bahrain. Includes: tips and explanations of the UCP 600 and the evolution of the rules.

In 2023, environmental and climate issues will again be at the top of the policy agenda in the Middle East and North Africa. The upcoming COP28 climate conference in Dubai and the rapid growth in the renewables sector in Egypt and North Africa both point to the growing power of MENA states within global climate politics.

Quite often, trade does not happen directly between the producer of the raw material, the manufacturer and the end user. The supply chain process involved are complex, with each point in the journey ‘adding value’ and potentially adding to the “sustainability footprint” of the product. 

As the commodity trading industry looks back on Q1 of 2023, it is evident that the first three months of the year have been marked by a number of significant events. 

Saying the world’s oceans are vast is an understatement. If one were to sail from Cape Town to Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island, located over 2,000 kilometres to the nearest land, the voyage would take longer than it took Apollo 11 to reach the moon.

ESG is certainly not a new development, but its growth and importance in financial services have never been higher. Whilst there has been a big focus on the “E” in ESG, we’re also seeing a lot of progress in tackling other aspects, such as social action to address societal challenges. One of the biggest social challenges in global trade is the huge, and growing, finance gap.

The Court of Appeal in England has decided in MUR Shipping BV v. RTI Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1406 (27 October 2022) that sometimes a party must accept payment in Euros, even though the contract expressly stipulated payment to be made in US Dollars. Although the case is not about independent undertakings, DCW readers might ask if the decision could have implications for letters of credit and demand guarantees.

To put it lightly, the past few years have been a rollercoaster ride for trade finance. Recent challenges have pushed the industry to the boundaries, which has created significant angst for many. However, this struggle also has a silver lining.

The geographically dispersed nature of international trade creates inherent difficulties when it comes to trusting a counterparty that may be located on the opposite end of the world.

At the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) UAE’s Trade Facilitation Summit, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke with Steven Beck, head of the trade and supply chain finance program at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

To learn more about how the trade credit industry is building further resilience, Trade Finance Global’s (TFG) Deepesh Patel spoke with Marc Meyer, SVP subject matter expert, Tinubu at ExCred International’s London conference. 

Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG, 3rd April 2023

Persistent structural gaps within and between the world’s economies will decisively influence trade in the years ahead. This was one of the key findings in the latest Future of Trade report.