Increase in port activity reported
May 27, 2014 Category Logistics, Ports & sea transport
Container throughput at major domestic ports has been on the upswing since March, indicating that foreign trade will keep growing in the months ahead and meet the government’s targets this year. According to Chineseport.cn, container throughput at the nation’s top 10 ports was up more than 7% year-on-year in April, after expanding 6.5% in March. The increase “sent a strong signal that China’s foreign trade is still showing a good performance, despite growing worries that the world’s second-largest economy is slowing down”, said Xiao Feng, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service Co, a trade service provider. The increased volumes are “a true picture of China’s current trade, which has benefited from a steady recovery in the United States and Europe and surging demand from the Asian market,” Xiao said. Container throughput at Ningbo, Zhejiang province, increased more than 20% year-on-year in April, while Shanghai, the country’s largest port by capacity, saw a 6% increase last month, Chineseport.cn said. The container volume figures stood in marked contrast to the trade slowdown in value terms. Total trade contracted 3.1% year-on-year to CNY8.1 trillion in the first four months. In April alone, total trade slumped 1.3% year-on-year, following a 6.5% decline in March, according to the General Administration of Customs. According to Xiao, last year’s export figures were probably distorted as some companies inflated their export orders to channel capital into China. The practice has been curtailed by the recent yuan depreciation and tighter controls by the authorities. Exports to Hong Kong plunged 33.1% year-on-year in the first four months, as many false trade declarations filed last year were described as exports to Hong Kong, the China Daily reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world