News
Japan International Freight Forwarders Association Inc. (JIFFA) in late November unveiled a report on the combined volume of international multimodal shipments that its member companies handled in the first half (April-September) of 2016. In the six-month term in question, the global economy did not expand as much as expected due to slowdowns in newly industrialized economies in Asia and other reasons. As such, exports from Japan decreased 1.6% from a year earlier to 19.118 million revenue tons, suffering a year-on-year contraction for the third consecutive term. In contrast, imports came back to increase 3.1% to 34.044 million revenue tons. Consequently, the total of export and imports managed to sustain positive growth, although it was minute, improving 1.3% to 53.162 million revenue tons.
The JIFFA report, which had been compiled from valid responses made by 459 regular members, indicated that exports from Japan to China enjoyed a double-digit hike of 10.9% year on year to total 3.768 million revenue tons in the first half, helping China defend its title as the leading destination of international multimodal cargo from Japan. Outbound shipments to China, which had bottomed out earlier this year, returned to a recover track. Remaining at second place, those to the U.S. rose 2.2% to 2.828 million revenue tons, achieving a result that reflected steadiness in domestic demand in the nation. Expanding 6.3% to 1.675 million revenue tons, multimodal cargo to Europe returned to a recover trend and moved up from fourth to third place. In contrast, exports to South Korea plunged 17.9% to 1.648 million revenue tons, stepping down from third to fourth. Falling 2.3% to 1.282 million revenue tons, those to Thailand managed to remain at fifth place, but showed that they were slower in recovering than expected.
The JIFFA report said that imports of international multimodal cargo to Japan, meanwhile, just increased a mild 3% year on year in the April-September term, as the Japanese yen appreciated against the U.S. dollar by 10 to 15%. Shipments from China climbed 5.2% to 17.213 million revenue tons, holding the greatest share of the pie. As for other sources, 2.52 million revenue tons were imported from Europe, which hiked so notable a 17.2% as to enable the region finished in second place. Swelling 3.4% to 2.22 million revenue tons, imports from Vietnam, which had grown constantly, remained steady, rising fourth to third place. Those from Hong Kong incurred a double-digit contraction, coming in fourth place. On the other hand, imports from the greater China, which contains Hong Kong, went up 3.3% to 19.22 million revenue tons in total, failing to reach the 20-million-revenue-ton line. They accounted for 56.5% of the total, which remained nearly unchanged, or more specifically, increased a minute 0.1 percentage points. Due to growth in imports from Southeast Asian economies, the share of those from the greater China had been on the decline since peaking at 66.6% in the first half of fiscal 2008. Shipments from the U.S. waned 6.2% to 1.978 million revenue tons, falling below the two-million-revenue-ton mark and finishing in fifth place.
