By Nick Lung

According to statistics from Descartes Datamyne, an American shipping consulting company, the volume of shipping containers sent from Asia to the United States in September was 1.6135 million, an increase of 5.2% over the same period last year. It finally turned positive after 14 consecutive months of negative growth.

However, this does not mean that demand has improved. The reason for the better September data is that the base number in September last year was smaller. In September 2022, the volume of shipping containers sent from Asia to the United States decreased by 13.3% year-on-year. Prior to that, demand in Europe and the United States had been experiencing sluggish growth due to high inflation, retailers' destocking, and the shift from consumer demand to service demand. The demand for furniture, toys, sports equipment, and apparel goods that previously accounted for a large share of imports has decreased rapidly. This has also led to negative growth in the volume of shipping containers from Asia to the United States. Even if the data turned positive in September this year, furniture goods still decreased by 0.3% year-on-year, shoes dropped by 16.5% year-on-year, and toys, sports equipment, and clothing goods increased slightly. 2.9% and 4%. Industry insiders say demand for sea freight remains weak.

The shipment volume in September was boosted by electronic and electrical products (up 21.7% year-on-year), steel products (up 14.6%) and plastic products (up 11.8%). From the perspective of major export regions, China's transportation volume to the United States, which has the largest share, increased by 6% year-on-year. However, the performance of other regions seems to be more impressive, such as Japan, which increased by 61.1% year-on-year, and Thailand's transportation volume to the United States, which increased by 31.3% year-on-year. %. Japan's substantial growth may be affected by an increase in auto parts, while Thailand may benefit from supply chain shifts.

In the traditional season, September every year is the peak shipping season, which is for the Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping periods at the end of the year. However, due to the impact of inflation, people generally have low willingness to consume, and the pressure to destock has always been there and has not yet been ease. Coupled with the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian war has further affected crude oil prices, the rise in raw materials is within expectations.

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