Home >

Logistics Information: The Number Of Containers Dropped By 9% In The First Three Months, And The Freight Dropped By 37%

2023/5/19 15:16:00 0

　　 Recently, Maersk, a shipping group, released a higher than expected first quarter profit. Maersk said that during the period from January to March, the number of containers loaded by Maersk dropped by 9% compared with the same period of the previous year, while the average freight rate dropped by 37%.

　　 It is reported that because of the surge in customer demand and the congestion of ports related to the epidemic, the company's profit last year hit a record high. But then, with the global economic recession and the collapse of the import bubbles in the United States and other major consumer countries caused by the epidemic, freight rates fell sharply.

　　 Weak demand under foreign inflation pressure

　　 According to the data, China's foreign trade maintained growth in the first four months of this year, with total exports reaching 7.76 trillion yuan, up 10.6%. Among them, the export in March was particularly strong, with a year-on-year growth of 23.4%, much higher than the market expectation.

　　 However, the unexpected export growth corresponds to the still depressed shipping prices and a large number of empty containers on the terminal. Many foreign traders and freight forwarders also said that they did not feel the warmth brought by export growth.

　　 While the export data is soaring, it is also a fact that a large number of containers once "hard to find" are now vacant. Against the backdrop of sluggish global economic recovery and huge inflationary pressure in Europe and the United States, the demand of overseas consumer markets is still weak. European and American markets are just one of the important markets for China's traditional manufacturing exports, which has exacerbated the large number of empty containers.

　　 The General Administration of Customs also responded to the problem of empty container stacking ports in March, saying that this was due to the large number of new containers put in the previous period, the low cost of domestic stacking, and the large number of empty containers returning in a short time after the relief of the foreign epidemic, which also played a seasonal role.

　　 "At present, the decline in consumption power caused by the high inflation pressure has had an immediate effect. Last year, we thought that the export downturn was due to the backlog of inventory in the past few years has not been digested, and now it seems that foreign consumers have no money in their pockets." A person in charge of an enterprise said that at the beginning of the epidemic, the efficiency of major routes declined significantly due to factors such as supply chain congestion, However, from the second half of 2021, the situation began to reverse. With the fall of crude oil price, the gradual relief of global supply chain pressure and the decline of demand, the container market changed from "hard to find one container" to "empty container accumulation". Overlapping the high base last year, the CCFI freight index once showed a decline of about 70% compared with the previous year.

　　 Container vacancy is not enough to show that the overall export is not smooth, but it is a realistic portrayal of the dilemma faced by traditional manufacturing exports. The further recovery of overseas market demand is the biggest expectation of the industry at present.

　　 In addition, an article published by the Economic Information Daily at the end of April said that since March, the level of empty container storage in many ports in China has dropped from a high point, and the number of containers used is gradually recovering. Experts predict that as China's economic operation continues to improve as a whole, and the measures to stabilize the scale and optimize the structure of foreign trade continue to work, the good momentum of China's foreign trade is expected to continue, the export boxes will gradually increase, and the growth of major indicators of coastal port production will pick up this year.

　　 The relative supply of domestic consumption recovery is still insufficient

　　 On May 16, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on the operation of the national economy in April. A media question: Analysts predict that deflation pressure will continue in the coming months. Does this mean that supply is still oversupply? When exports are weak, what measures should the government take to stimulate consumer demand and private investment?

　　 In response, Fu Linghui, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics and director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Economy, said that deflation does not exist in China at present and will not occur in the next stage.

　　 Fu Linghui said that at present, the low price operation may continue, but generally it is phased. Internationally, the overall recovery of the world economy is weak, the inflation level of major developed economies is still high, the monetary tightening policy is still continuing, the banking crisis in some western developed countries has gradually emerged recently, and the global financial stability is facing new challenges, which will have a negative impact on economic development. Domestically, after China's economy has fully recovered its normal operation, the recovery of consumption is still preliminary, the rapid repair of market demand relative to supply is still insufficient, and some structural contradictions accumulated over a long period of time are still prominent. Despite these problems, the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth have not changed. China has a good industrial foundation, has obvious advantages in super market scale, and is rich in total labor resources. We have nearly 900 million labor forces, and the quality of our labor force continues to improve. These are the most important foundation and guarantee for us to overcome various difficulties and challenges. In recent years, our innovation capability has been continuously improved, and our supporting role for sustainable and healthy economic development has gradually improved.

　　 There are also positive signs in the weak market

　　 China has a complete textile and clothing industry chain and an efficient supply chain. Since this year, many foreign trade enterprises have turned online negotiations into offline exchanges, innovated and optimized products, took the initiative to open up overseas markets.

　　 At the finished product warehouse of a textile enterprise in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, a box of clothes with good code has been tested and will be sent to North America. The person in charge of the enterprise said that in March, with the stability of raw material prices and the increase of the operating rate, the export volume of the enterprise was gradually rising. "The sales data in April 2022 is about 1.5 million pieces, and in April 2023, there will be a 20% increase, with the export volume of about 1.8 million pieces." The person in charge said that their orders had been placed in September this year. However, the growth of order volume is inseparable from the intensive and proactive efforts of enterprises. In the past six months, the company's sales team has gone abroad four times to meet and negotiate with customers.

　　 Not only clothing, home textile foreign trade enterprises are also actively expanding the market. An enterprise in Wujiang District, Suzhou, has been working on 10000 pillowcases for several days, and they will be sent to Holland at the end of this month. This year, the number of export destinations of this enterprise's products has increased by 8, and the Netherlands is one of them. "Over the past four months, we have worked overtime every day. The number of orders is still sufficient at the end of June. It should be said that the number of orders in the same period of this year has increased by about 17% compared with last year."

　　 According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs on May 9, driven by China's steady foreign trade policy, supply chain recovery, accelerated delivery of orders and a low base, China's textile and clothing exports continued to grow year-on-year in April, with a slight decline in month on month, in dollar terms. Among them, clothing exports increased 14.3% year on year in the current month, driving the cumulative clothing exports from negative to positive, and the overall decline of textile and clothing exports further narrowed. In RMB terms, textile and clothing exports totaled 638.3 billion yuan from January to April 2023, an increase of 4.8% over the same period last year (the same below), including 307.84 billion yuan of textile exports, down 0.8%, and 330.46 billion yuan of clothing exports, up 10.6%.

　　 Fu Linghui said that from this year's situation, as the economy resumed its normal operation, some economic activities that had been suppressed in the earlier period would be gradually repaired, and the supporting role for the economy would continue to emerge. On the whole, the economic operation will continue to recover. Of course, we should pay close attention to some existing problems. The next step is to implement the policies and measures issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, further expand domestic demand, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, and promote high-quality economic development.