The bank forecast that infrastructure-related trade will grow by 9 percent a year between now and 2030. Demand will be driven by, among other factors, the rising consumption of Asia's fast-growing middle class. "This is a vital part of the story of rebalancing the global economy," said James Emmett, HSBC's global head of trade and receivables finance. By 2030 India will have replaced the United States as the largest importer of goods to build infrastructure, HSBC said in its latest Trade Forecast. Excluding the United States, the bank expects Mexico to be the biggest non-Asian importer of infrastructure goods, ahead of Brazil. In another trade trend related to shifts in the global economy, China's transition to high-value manufacturing will make it the world's biggest importer of sophisticated investment equipment by 2020, HSBC projected. Global trade has slowed since the onset of the global financial crisis. HSBC said it expected growth at a modest pace until 2015 and then an acceleration between 2016 and 2020. (Reuters)