Global trade finance volumes fell by 22% in the first quarter of 2013, according to Dealogic’s latest survey.

The results reveal that trade finance figures dipped from US$40.3bn in Q1 2012 to US$31.3bn in the same period this year, which is the lowest quarterly amount since US$30.1bn was recorded in the second quarter of 2010.

Only 73 deals were listed, down 69% from the 233 deals signed in the comparable 2012 period.

Excluding sole-bank loans, trade finance volume decreased to US$21.5bn, down from US$31.6bn in Q1 2012.

Meanwhile, Russia was the most active market with a 25% share of global trade financing. It raised US$7.9bn in Q1 2013, up 285% from the same period in 2012. Norway followed with a market share of 13% totalling US$3.9bn.

The largest trade finance deal signed in Q1 2013 was the Glencore and Vitol transaction; a US$7.5bn syndicated facility raised to purchase crude oil from Russian oil company Rosneft.

Syndicated trade financing loan volumes soared to US$8.7bn, up from US$1.8bn in Q1 2012 when just nine deals were completed.

ECA financing dropped 29% to US$19.7bn in the first quarter of this year from US$27.8bn in Q1 2012. ECA guarantees volume also fell 1% to US$16.6bn in Q1 2013 compared to US$16.8bn recorded in the same period in 2012. Activity dropped 48% to 56 deals, down from 108 deals made in Q1 2012.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group topped the ECA finance ranking for Q1 2013 after receiving US$3.7bn in loans, followed by JP Morgan with US$3.5bn.

The Japanese bank also topped the global trade finance ranking (which includes sole bank loans) with US$4.34bn and a 13.8% share. JP Morgan marginally missed the top-slot with a 13.6% share of US$4.27bn.

Structured commodity deals decreased to US$335mn in Q1 2013 from US$572mn in Q1 2012.

Finally, pre-export loan volume saw the lowest quarterly volume since Q2 2004, with just US$302mn in Q1, down 45% compared with US$547mn recorded in Q1 2012.