UNCTAD: Services Inputs Shape Goods Export Competitiveness
UNCTAD reports services make up 33% of intermediate inputs in developed-economy industrial exports, versus 27% in developing economies and 13% in LDCs.
The story in focus
UNCTAD reports that services such as logistics, finance and engineering are increasingly embedded in goods exports. Services account for 33% of intermediate inputs in industrial goods exports in developed economies, 27% in developing economies and 13% in least developed countries.
- Services represent 33% of intermediate inputs in industrial goods exports in developed economies, compared with 27% in developing economies and 13% in LDCs.
- Digitally deliverable services exports grew an average 7.1% a year over the past decade.
- Services labour productivity was about $60,000 per worker in developed economies in 2024, versus roughly $15,000 in developing economies and $2,000 in LDCs.
Servicification of goods trade
UNCTAD describes the growing use of services as inputs across agriculture and manufacturing as "servicification". Engineering, finance, design, logistics and marketing contribute value to goods that are ultimately shipped as physical products.
The agency says digitalization is accelerating this trend and reshaping services trade. Exports of digitally deliverable services, which can be supplied remotely over computer networks, grew an average of 7.1% a year over the past decade.
Gaps between economies
The services share of intermediate inputs in industrial goods exports is not uniform. UNCTAD puts it at 33% in developed economies, 27% in developing economies and 13% in least developed countries covered by the data. The share is about two and a half times higher in developed economies than in LDCs.
Productivity gaps are also wide. UNCTAD reports that services labour productivity in 2024 was around $60,000 per worker in developed economies, about $15,000 in developing economies and around $2,000 in LDCs, measured in constant 2015 dollars.
UNCTAD's Global Trade Update says the quality, cost and availability of services directly affect competitiveness and participation in global value chains across sectors.
Implications for exporters
The final product may remain a good, but UNCTAD argues the services behind it increasingly shape export competitiveness. It frames gaps in access to efficient services and in services productivity as an important part of the development challenge.
How large is the services gap between developed and least developed economies in goods exports?
Services make up 33% of intermediate inputs in industrial goods exports in developed economies, versus 13% in LDCs, about two and a half times higher, per UNCTAD.
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