Global volumes of air freight will slow down over the next five years, it has been predicted.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in its Airline Industry Forecast, suggests cargo will grow by 17 per cent over the next five years, which it believes is slowing down as trade barriers and poor gross domestic product make the air freight sector less desirable.

That said, there will still be steady upturn in activity for the foreseeable future, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.2 per cent over this period. The largest markets, are forecast to add over a million tonnes each.

As a result of this, China will surpass Germany as the second largest country for air freight in 2017.

IATA's director general and chief executive officer Tony Tyler said: "Air cargo is a key enabler for the movement of high value products and perishable goods around the globe."

During this phase, trade routes in the Asia Pacific region are expected to increase their share of traffic by one percentage point to 26.2 per cent, while Europe and the North Atlantic are forecast to decline by around 0.6 percentage points to 8.3 per cent.

Volumes between Europe and the Asia Pacific will also go down 0.3 percentage points from 2012's statistics.