Last year, Germany was still barely holding on to its position as the world's leading merchandise exporter, with exports of $1.47 trillion just edging out China, with some $1.43 trillion.

But with Asian nations starting to see a rebound in trade and Europe still turning in a weak performance, Germany's dominance in exports may be a thing of the past. Discussing the World Trade Organization's annual report on world trade, WTO chief economist Patrick Low told Reuters news agency that China is expected to overtake Germany as the world's biggest exporter this year.

This would be in keeping with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy's assertion that Asian economies "may be leading the new expansion of world trade."

"No room for complacency"

Despite that positive news, the report concludes that world trade volumes are still expected to shrink by 10 percent this year, although the contraction appears to be slowing.

"There's no room for complacency," Lamy told a news conference in Singapore, where he was attending a two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade meeting.

The annual review for 2009 focused on measures taken by various governments to protect their most important economic sectors. The WTO said it hoped that any protectionist measures implemented as a result of the financial crisis would be reversed as soon as possible.

"Protecting trade can be tempting until everybody understands that protectionism does not protect," Lamy said, adding that even emergency contingency measures "need to be used with care."

Lamy also stressed that he would like to see a swift conclusion to the Doha round of trade talks, which were launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. The talks, which focus on ways to help poorer countries grow their economies, stalled due to the different interests of emerging nations and developed economies.

dc/dpa/Reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton