News
Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting, Inc. (NRIC) recently unveiled an outlook for cargo transport in fiscal 2018, indicating that containerized shipments and international airfreight will both increase year on year for the third consecutive year, but that year-on-year improvements will go smaller than the previous fiscal year.
NRIC anticipates that container exports/imports will grow 2.1% to 12.768 million TEUs in total against the background of continuous expansions in the global economy. Exports will swell 2.7% to 5.327 million TEUs. Thanks to massive demand in capital investment in other countries/regions, industrial, construction and other general machinery will remain powerful. As for auto parts/components, those destined to China will grow, but not as briskly as the previous fiscal year. Those to Southeast Asia will return to a recovery track, while those to the U.S. and Europe will remain on an upward trend. Meanwhile, imports will hike 1.6% to 7.441 million TEUs. Consumer goods will improve mildly. Machinery/equipment, parts/components and other production materials will stay robust, as capital investment will continue to increase.
NRIC projects that exports/imports of international air cargo will total 2.594 million tons, climbing 6.5%. In breakdown, exports will rise 8.4% to 1.35 million tons. As for semiconductor-related commodities, demand will continue to expand. Electronic parts/components will remain steady. In respect to auto parts/components, there will be new demand for shifting to electric vehicles (EVs) and installing relevant products. As such, they will stay powerful, led by those to China and the U.S., the two leading destinations. Imports will expand 4.5% to 1.244 million tons. As growth in personal spending will be small, they will not increase as much as expected. Owing to a rise in the number of capital investment projects, semiconductor, other electrical parts/components and other construction materials will play a role in leading growth in imports of international airfreight, maintaining the momentum that it boasted the previous fiscal year. Procurements for parts/components from overseas will increase thanks to rises in capital investment and production capacity.
