This publication presents comprehensive data on world trade in 2001 and a number of long-term time series, as well as considering the prospects for the year 2002. It provides comparable statistics of trade by: region; and sector, including agricultural products, mining products, manufacturing and commercial services. The appendices contain detailed data tables, including data on merchandise trade by product, region and major trading partner for the major trading nations for the period 1999-2001. The report finds that world trade saw an unexpectedly sharp downturn in 2001, falling by 1.5 per cent compared to an increase of 11 per cent the preceding year. This was the first decline in the volume of world trade since 1982 and the first decrease in world output since 1991. A decline in the major industrial country markets and the East Asian economies with a high share of IT industries, the problems in all major stock markets and the events of September 11 all contributed to this downturn.