International Trade

International trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders
or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product
(GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history, its economic,
social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries.

Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and

outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing
international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade,
nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders.

International trade is in principle not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the
behavior of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether
trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically
more costly than domestic trade. The reason is that a border typically imposes additional
costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country
differences such as language, the legal system or culture.

Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production
such as capital and labor are typically more mobile within a country than across countries.
Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a
lesser extent to trade in capital, labor or other factors of production. Then trade in goods and
services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of product.

International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance,
forms the larger branch of international economics.

Risk in international trade

Companies doing business across international borders face many of the same risks as would
normally be evident in strictly domestic transactions. For example,

• Buyer insolvency (purchaser cannot pay);

• Non-acceptance (buyer rejects goods as different from the agreed upon
specifications);
• Credit risk (allowing the buyer to take possession of goods prior to payment);
• Regulatory risk (e.g., a change in rules that prevents the transaction);
• Intervention (governmental action to prevent a transaction being completed);
• Political risk (change in leadership interfering with transactions or prices); and
• War and other uncontrollable events.

In addition, international trade also faces the risk of unfavorable exchange rate movements
(and, the potential benefit of favorable movements).

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 Bangladesh - International trade

Bangladeshi international trade is extremely small relative to the size of its population,
although it experienced accelerated growth during the last decade. It is not very diversified
and depends on the fluctuations of the international market. The Bangladeshi government
struggles to attract export-oriented industries, removing red tape and introducing various
financial and tax initiatives. Between 1990 and 1995 Bangladesh doubled its exports from
US$1.671 billion in 1990 to US$3.173 billion in 1995 and then almost doubled them again
from US$3.173 billion in 1995 to US$5.523 billion in 1999.

During the 1990s, the United States has been the largest trading partner for Bangladesh, with
its exports to the United States reaching 35.7 percent in 1998-99. This percentage consisted
mainly of Ready-Made Garments (RMG). Germany is the second-largest export market, with
the proportion of goods reaching 10.4 percent; and the United Kingdom is in third place at
8.3 percent. Other export destinations are France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan.

India, China, and Singapore are the 3 largest sources of imports. Most Bangladeshi imports
originate from

Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Bangladesh

Exports Imports
1975 .327 1.321
1980 .793 2.599
1985 .999 2.772
1990 1.671 3.598
1995 3.173 6.497
1998 3.831 7.042
SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics
Yearbook 1999.

Neighboring India, reaching 20.8 percent in 1998-99. The second most important source is
China, totaling 9.3 percent, third is Singapore with 8.6 percent, with Hong Kong fourth at 7.6
percent.

During the last decade, Bangladeshi exports shifted from the sale of agricultural products and
raw and processed natural resources to labor-intensive manufactured goods (including

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clothing, footwear, and textiles), but the country, unlike neighboring India, could not catch up
with the exporters of skill-intensive products. While India is becoming an important
international player in the field of software and applications development, Bangladesh lags
far behind, despite the government's efforts to promote this area.

Bangladesh has a long history of maintaining a negative trade balance, importing more goods
than it exports. In the 1970s and 1980s it imported goods and services twice and sometimes 3
times as much as it exported. Even during the relatively successful 1999 financial year, the
country exported just US$5.523 billion worth of products while it imported US$8.381 billion
worth of products, leaving a large trade shortfall of US$2.858 billion.

At present, Bangladesh faces growing economic competition from India, Pakistan, and
Indonesia, countries which could offer better infrastructure and larger and growing domestic
markets. A border conflict between Bangladesh and India, the worst in the last 30 years
erupted in April 2001, bringing political and economic uncertainty to the region and
undermining international investor confidence in the Bangladeshi market. If the investors
move out, they could cause further social polarization and increased poverty in the country.