World trade volumes will grow by 73% by 2025, according to a new report published by HSBC.

Despite the current economic climate and a downturn in confidence in the short term, trade is expected to grow by 2% year-on-year until 2015. This is a volume increase of approximately 8% with international trade activity growing, on average by just under $1trn a year between now and 2015.

Companies are being urged to find the right support to capitalise on the opportunities presented by expansion in growing and developing markets, and to mitigate the short-term risks of doing business during the next five years.

The report suggests that Egypt, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Brazil will be the international powerhouses that drive world trade growth in this period. Egypt is predicted to experience the fastest growth in international trade volumes, albeit from a low base of 185% by 2025.

This is being driven partly by the country’s redevelopment following the Arab Spring of 2011 but also because other countries around the world are seeing it as a gateway to the Middle East.

The forecast also predicts that China’s share of world trade will reach 13% by 2025, overtaking the US as top exporting nation, driven both by commodities trading and by an increase in manufacturing in China.

As the centre of international business shifts from developed to emerging markets, the biggest developed trading nations are adapting how they do business to maintain their competitive advantage, HSBC says.

This shift is creating a redistribution of the global supply chain, particularly prevalent in Europe and North America, as well as Japan.

It finds German companies, for example, are increasingly working with businesses in emerging Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic) to create strong and integrated European-based supply chains.

HSBC predicts that while Germany’s share of world trade may fall from 8.2% to 7.2% by 2025, these innovative approaches will help it increase total trade volumes over the period from US$2,235.7bn in 2010 to US$3,495.1bn in 2025.

Additionally, HSBC’s trade confidence index finds that despite a dip in global trade confidence, the majority of respondents, 84%, anticipate either an increase in international trade, or consistent levels of international business activity, over the next six months.

Businesses in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE are particularly optimistic about the immediate future, showing a positive uplift in confidence on the first half of 2011.

Alan Keir, HSBC’s group managing director and global head, commercial banking says: “Recent events have left business people feeling uncertain but one thing is clear, for businesses that are looking to grow, international trade is the real opportunity.”