International trade is the greatest casualty of this economic crisis, and nowhere is this more visible than in the large Asian exporting nations. As consumers stopped buying durable manufactured goods last year, some countries’ exports were cut in half.

For the past half year, official export statistics have seemed to rub in the bad news, with every monthly release suggesting continued steep falls in exports across Asia. When China’s latest export figures are published on Friday, they will no doubt show yet another year-on-year double-digit percentage fall.