HSBC has predicted that Korea would overtake the U.K. in trade ranking within 15 years by seeing a cumulative growth of 142 percent in trade volume by 2026.

The projection for Korea by HSBC Global Connections far surpasses the figure for the world’s trade volume. It forecasts that the world’s trade will expand 86 percent by 2026.

“Countries that will see increases in their share of world trade to 2026 include South Korea, which will replace the U.K. as the sixth-largest trading nation due to trade expansion,” the report said.

It also said Korean enterprises’ trade activities will grow by an average of 5.31 percent per annum over the next 15 years.

In particular, Korea’s exports of electronic goods to China are projected to post a yearly growth rate of 12.56 percent, according to the report.

It also said that China would overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest trading nation by 2016.

Saying the world continues to face well-documented economic challenges, the report said it suggests grounds for optimism for international businesses.

“Despite the current climate, the overall trend for international trade is positive with growth acceleration sooner than expected from 2014, rather than 2015.”

Over the next five years it is forecast that world trade will grow at an annualized rate of 3.78, due primarily to the expectation of an earlier recovery of the overall global economy, it said.

In the period 2017-2021, the report predicted even more rapid annualized growth at 6.23 percent as the world’s demand for traded goods recovers.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)