Trade finance volumes dropped by 15% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2012, while financing by export credit agencies (ECAs) increased by 78%, the latest Dealogic report reveals.

Total global trade finance volumes, including ECA financing, structured commodity finance, supply chain finance, short-term facilities and syndicated loans, reached their lowest level since 2010 with US$123.9bn, down from the US$134.8bn of the first nine months of 2011.

ECA financing volumes reached US$78.4bn via 295 deals in the same period, up from US$44.1bn in the first nine months of 2011. Meanwhile, ECA guarantees went down from 305 to 237 deals, which was reflected in a 13% drop in guarantee volumes with US$40.6bn.

Syndicated trade finance loan volumes fell by 83% between the first nine months of 2011 and the same period in 2012, reaching US$8.7bn, while short-term facilities, including letters of credit, guarantees and documentary credit, decreased by 23% to US$29bn.

Structured commodity deals also decreased to reach US$3.4bn, while supply chain volumes, which were non-existent last year, amounted to US$4.3bn.

Pre-export loan volumes showed a 71% decrease, going down from US$18bn to US$5.2bn.

Mitsubishi UFJ topped the Dealogic trade finance ranking with US$7.5bn, as well as the ECA financing ranking with a 6.8% share. In trade finance, it was followed by HSBC with US$6.5bn, while JP Morgan took the second place in the ECA financing ranking with a 6.5% share.

Turkey received the most trade financing with US$13.3bn, followed by India (US$11.9bn) and Australia (US$11.7bn).