With inflation still high and central bank rates set to rise further, demand is expected to remain weak for the rest of the year.

Shipping group Maersk predicts that demand for containers — a proxy for trade — will fall by 2.5 per cent this year.

The S&P monthly survey of purchasing managers indicated that new export orders contracted across the world throughout the second half of last year and in January. Last month, the IMF forecast that global trade growth would decline to 2.4 per cent this year, from 5.4 per cent in 2022.