News
U.K.-based Container Trades Statistics (CTS) said global containerized exports fell by 2.27% in January compared to December 2012, down to 10,494,300 TEUs. The decline may not signal a fundamental worsening of the global economy as December was relatively strong and January tends to be a quieter month particularly for imports to Asia in the lead up to the traditional Chinese New Year annual two-week period of relative inactivity, CTS said.
Total exports from North America (including Intra North-America) to all overseas markets monitored by CTS fell by 7.08%, down to 1,161,900 TEUs, compared to the previous month, and were also lower by 3.04% compared to January 2012.
On the other hand, containerized exports from Asia (including Intra Asia) shifted up a gear in January totaling 6,243,700 TEUs, an overall increase of 3.15% compared to December. However, the surge is artificial to some extent and is linked to the traditional surge in industrial production in this region ahead of the Chinese New Year factory closures.
Based on a year-on-year comparison, global trade in January was up by 156,124 TEU or 1.5% compared to January 2012, according to the CTS survey.
