Ports are lashed in trade turmoil
Even though the pace of cargo throughput at China’s ports has picked up recently due largely to bulk imports, it is unlikely to overtake last year’s as foreign trade remains in the doldrums.
Ports in China handled 546 million tons of cargo in May, a 5 percent increase from a year earlier as domestic trade grew 5.1 percent to 364 million tons and exports by 4.7 percent to 182 million tons, according to statistics from the Ministry of Transport (MOT).
“Major reasons for the growth were increases in import of bulk cargoes like iron ore and crude oil,” said Liu Bin, director of the Institute of World Economy at Dalian Maritime University.
MOT figures show ports handled 55.5 million tons of imported iron ore in May, a 24.6 percent increase year-on-year.
Imports also included 49.2 million tons of coal and 13.8 million tons of crude oil in May, increases of 10.8 and 5.1 percent respectively.
But the momentum is unlikely to continue as slowly rising prices and expanding inventories of raw materials will slow imports of bulk commodities in the coming months, analysts said.
“Imported iron ore and crude oil increased because their prices were low during the past five months. Shipping operators also lowered shipment charges,” Liu said.
Statistics from MOT show the price of iron ore dropped 42.4 percent from January to May from the same period the year previous.
“Now, due to a more optimistic outlook for the world economy and bargaining over iron ore, prices of oil and iron ore are likely to rise. I believe shipping operators will also increase charges. Import of these cargoes will as a result decrease,” said Liu, also pointing to high commodity stockpiles.
Ports in China handled 7 billion tons of cargo in 2008, a figure analysts say this year has no hope of equaling due to the steep decline in foreign trade
While cargo volume seems to have stabilized and increased somewhat, the performance of container throughput, which relies heavily on exports, is still dismal.
According to customs data, China’s exports dropped 26.4 percent in May and 21.8 percent in the first five months this year.
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