News
Container movement on the intra-Asia trade increased a minute 0.2% year on year to 1.249 million TEUs in April. Exports from Japan to 12 other economies in the region were favorable, growing 3.7% to 157,000 TEUs, but imports to Japan from the 12 trade partners were not, falling 8.2% to 180,000 TEUs.
Container trade among the 13 countries and regions was more brisk in the first four months (January-April), which improved 2.5% from a year earlier to 4.797 million TEUs. However, shipments from Japan shrank 0.4% to 599,000 TEUs, and those to Japan were not robust, either, waning 3.9% to 732,000 TEUs.
In April, containers from Japan to China were steady, rising 3.6% from the corresponding month of 2014 to 61,000 TEUs. As for exports to other nations, those to Thailand went up 13.8% to 17,000 TEUs; to Hong Kong, up 0.6% to 13,000 TEUs; to Vietnam, up 10.7% to 8,500 TEUs; to Indonesia, up 6% to 8,300 TEUs; to Malaysia, up 1.3% to 7,800 TEUs and to Singapore, up 1.3% to 3,700 TEUs. On the other hand, containers to Taiwan and the Philippines were both smaller in volume, declining 1.5% to 18,000 TEUs and 16.5% to 4,000 TEUs, respectively.
Looking at containerized shipments to Japan by origin, those from China plunged 12.7% year on year to 88,000 TEUs. Container imports from Thailand were down 9.9% to 15,000 TEUs; from Vietnam, down 4.8% to 10,000 TEUs; from Hong Kong, down 17.9% to 8,200 TEUs; from the Philippines, down 16.4% to 4,200 TEUs and from Singapore, down 7.7% to 2,900 TEUs. In contrast, those from Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia were solid, going up 5.5% to 17,000 TEUs, up 2.4% to 10,000 TEUs and up 2.8% to 6,800 TEUs, respectively.
