Opec trade fails to cushion US and Japan The US and Japan have become increasingly vulnerable to high oil prices as producers in the Opec cartel import fewer goods from them, reversing a trade that has previously helped offset the impact of rising energy prices on some of the world's biggest consumers. An analysis by the International Energy Agency, the western countries" oil watchdog, found that China, however, is less exposed to rising oil prices than in the past as it has become the primary beneficiary of Opec's rising trade expenditure. The recycling of large sums of petrodollars through rising imports of goods by oil producers helps shape the impact of high oil prices on the global economy. "We are witnessing the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the economy - we have never seen such a transfer from consuming to producing countries," Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist, told the Financial Times in an interview. The shift in imports from the US and Japan to China reflects in part a broader change in the global economy as Beijing emerges as the world's workshop. But Mr Birol said that "political factors" - a reference to the cooler relationship between the US and Gulf countries since the terror attacks of 2001 - were also at play. The latest IEA research - due to be officially released later this week - shows that for each US dollar that the US spent on oil imports from Opec countries last year, only 34 cents came back by way of exported goods, significantly below the 1970-2000 average of 55 cents. The drop was even sharper for Japan, falling to 14 cents, down from a historical average of 43 cents. The drop in US and Japan's share has benefited Beijing. For each dollar that China spent in 2011 on oil imports from Opec countries, about two-thirds, or 64 cents, returned to Beijing thanks to rising exports of goods, up from a negligible amount in the 1970-2000 average, the IEA estimates. The European Union enjoys the highest rate of return, at 80 cents for each dollar spent, in line with the historical average. The IEA analysis does not include the recycling of petrodollars through the financial system, via purchases of sovereign debt or equities. The flood of petrodollars has boosted Opec's overseas spending over the past 10 years, but Mr Birol warned that following the Arab uprisings, many countries in the region were spending more money domestically to maintain social stability. "This means that less money would be recycled through the global economy," he said. The US government last week said that Opec's 12 members would earn a record $1,170bn this year selling crude oil, up nearly 15 per cent from $1,026bn last year. In real terms, adjusted for inflation, Opec's oil earnings will match the peak of 2008 and surpass the levels seen in the late 1970s. Opec officials believe that the cartel's rising imports, plus investments by their sovereign wealth fund in troubled western banks and other companies, has helped support global economic growth since the financial crisis started in 2008. The price of Brent crude last month hit a post-2008 peak of $128.40 a barrel amid rising geo-political tensions around Iran's nuclear programme. Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of the Opec cartel, has vowed to bring prices down to avoid damaging global growth.