New global economic figures have indicated that international trade in 2015 is likely to be at its lowest level since 2009.

The latest data from the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis' monthly World Trade Monitor has indicated that the volume of global merchandise trade grew 0.7 per cent year-on-year in the three months ending in September 2015.

This comes after world trade contracted during the first half of the year, meaning the performance for 2015 as a whole is likely to be the slowest seen since the immediate aftermath of the global recession.

Key factors in this slowdown include the strength of the US dollar dampening American export performance, as well as the deceleration of the previously robust growth seen in China.

Analysis firm Capital Economics attributed the slowdown to the continued weakness of emerging economies, although it added: "We don't think this is an early sign of a widespread downturn in the global economy."