International trade is nothing more than a buying and selling process, which is carried out between sellers, buyers, intermediaries from different countries. The structure of international trade includes import and export of goods, and the ratio between them is called the trade balance.
The commodity structure of international trade is changing and is affected by scientific and technological progress, as well as the deepening division of labor. At the moment, the most important thing in international trade is the product that belongs to the manufacturing industry. Equipment, machinery, chemicals, vehicles - these are the types of products whose share is growing especially rapidly. And trade in high-tech products and high-tech goods is developing very dynamically. This stimulates the exchange of services between countries, especially those that have a communicative, industrial, financial, credit and scientific-technical character. World trade in manufactured goods is stimulated by trade in services (leasing, consulting, information and computing, engineering).
The structure of international trade indicates the ratio in the total volume of any parts, depending on the chosen attribute. The general structure of international trade shows the ratio of imports to exports in shares or percent. In monetary terms, the share of exports is always less than the share of imports. And in the physical volume, this ratio is equal to one. The commodity structure of international trade shows what is the share of certain goods in its total volume.
Some goods do not participate in world trade at all. Therefore, they are all divided into non-tradable and traded. The first group is those that, for various reasons (strategic importance for a country, lack of competitiveness) do not move between different countries. And the first group is goods that can move freely.
When the structure of international trade is characterized by specialists, two groups of goods are distinguished: finished products and raw materials.
The geographical structure of international trade is characterized by the distribution of trade in the directions of various commodity flows. Currently, there is such a situation that countries that are industrialized and have a more developed economy, most trade with each other. Developing countries are focused on the markets of those countries that are industrialized. 25 percent of world trade â such is their share in world trade. Recently, countries called new industrial (Asian) countries have played an increasingly important role, while oil-exporting countries are losing their importance in world trade.
International trade takes many forms. By the number of items it is single and multi-subject. There is a division by the number of parties into bilateral and multilateral. According to the territorial scope of world trade is divided into local, regional, interregional and global. There is a division according to the structure of relations into intra-company, intra-industry, inter-industry, horizontal, vertical and mixed.
Currently, international trade has an important role in the economic development of many countries, as well as regions and the world community. Foreign trade is now considered the most powerful factor in economic growth. And now many countries are heavily dependent on international trade. Such a dynamic growth in international trade is influenced by such factors as the internationalization of production, the development of the division of labor between countries, the activities and existence of transnational corporations of TNCs, as well as scientific and technological revolution.