News
Container imports to the U.S. amounted to 21.9 million TEUs in August (based on volumes at ports of origin), which plunged 12.6% year on year, according to Descartes Datamyne, which has referred to Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and bill-of-lading (B/L) data provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). From July, however, they increased 0.8%.
Exports from 10 major Asian economies accounted for 1.55 million TEUs (based on volumes at ports of origin), which plummeted 13.1% from a year earlier and have continued to decrease year on year for 13 months in a row. From the previous month, they picked up 1.7%.
Outbound containers from Asia to the U.S. totaled 11.25 million TEUs in January-August, which declined a significant 19.6% from the corresponding eight months of 2022 but were slightly greater than in the same months of the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Looking at containers from Asia to the U.S. in August by origin, China was responsible for 918,026 TEUs, which shrank 14.4% year on year and has remained on a downward trend for 12 months running. Those from South Korea were down 14.9% to 155,057 TEUs; from Vietnam, down 10.3% to 148,220 TEUs; from Taiwan, down 15.4% to 76,887 TEUs; and from Singapore, down 1.1% to 70,369 TEUs. Containers from Japan, in contrast, surged 11.6% to 32,664 TEUs.
By item, furniture aggregated 234,552 TEUs, which waned 12.3% from a year earlier but managed to enjoy the leading share of the pie. Electronic devices went down 0.1% to 151,837 TEUs; machinery, down 13.5% to 146,023 TEUs; toys and sporting goods, down 20.2% to 122,432 TEUs; and plastic, down 15.7% to 121,025 TEU.
