Reported by Steven Yuan from FS China: Summary of China’s Import and Export Statistics for January-February 2024 (in USD):The total value of China’s imports and exports amounted to $930.86 billion, showing a growth of 5.5% compared to the same period last year. Export value reached $528.01 billion, increasing by 7.1%, while import value was $402.85 billion, growing by 3.5%.Top three export destinations by amount were ASEAN, the European Union, and the United States. Meanwhile, the top three import sources were ASEAN, Latin America, and the European Union. Exports to the United States amounted to $73.42 billion, witnessing a 5% YoY increase. On the other hand, exports to the European Union amounted to $78.26 billion, experiencing a 1.3% YoY decrease. The top three countries/regions experiencing the highest YoY growth in export destination amounts were Brazil (33.8%), Vietnam (24.1%), and Africa (20.6%).
Conversely, the top three countries/regions with the highest YoY decrease in export destination amounts were the Netherlands (21.2%), Singapore (17.2%), and South Africa (13.1%).

Rate continued to fall this week, the current market FAK price in USD3000-3200/40HQ.

In reply to this, Lisa Hughes from Jordex Group replied: On this side, FAK levels are dropping step by step consistently, but nothing radical – similar levels as outlined by yourselves.

Long Term NAC’s ( 6-12 months ) are predicted with huge disparities of +/- USD 1000 / HC ( USD 1600 – 2600 / HC ) but all a little too early to determine. Better visibility is anticipated closer to week 13 for May sailings and beyond.
A number of carriers have expressed an appetite for new NAC business, namely Hapag and MSC. CMA are sailing to max capacity at the moment and have closed all boking portals for March, so cannot commit to any negotiations until closer to April. Maersk are suffering serious rollovers at some POL’s, but all carriers are still uncertain if the current moving volumes are that of pre CNY less-time-sensitive cargo.

CMA CGM offers loyalty programme to spot cargo buyers. French carrier brings frequent flyer concept to ocean transport. Rewards programme will allow shippers to earn ‘nautical miles’ to pay towards invoices. Perks are only open to spot customers using instant quote platform.

Saudi’s Red Sea box port traffic decimated by Houthi attacks. Absence of Red Sea transhipment traffic pains Saudi port majors. Transhipment hub King Abdullah saw a 90% drop in capacity heading to the port last month against pre-crisis levels, while Saudi’s principal port Jeddah saw call capacity slump nearly 70%.

This week, Ramadan begun on Sunday, March 10, and end at sundown on Tuesday, April 9. The final evening of Ramadan consists of a celebration called Eid al-Fitr, when the traditional month-long fast is ended with a feast.Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is considered a holy month that honors the time when Allah, via the angel Gabriel, revealed the first verses of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, to a caravan trader named Muhammad. Muslims worldwide fast (or sawm) during the hours of daylight in Ramadan. They do not eat, drink, smoke or engage in sexual intercourse during the fast. They also focus on reading the Koran (Qu’ran), donating to charities (zakaat), and certain activities such as refraining from gossip. Some people try to recite the entire Koran by the end of Ramadan.

Is globalisation coming to an end? Not quite, but brace for slower trade growth. Talks of globalisation’s demise largely exaggerated. Globalisation is changing and entering a new phase, and costlier future fuels may mean less trade in low-value goods.

Could there be a US-Mexico trade war? The bilateral trade deficit has exploded since Donald Trump was president. Mexican and us officials were cheered by trade data released in February. It showed that Mexico overtook China in 2023 to become the number-one exporter to the United States. The value of goods sold has been rising steadily, and reached almost $476bn for the year; the equivalent figure for Chinese goods fell sharply, from $536bn in 2022 to $427bn in 2023.

Cashless payments for cargo collection. Cathay Cargo Terminal is the first air cargo terminal in Hong Kong to introduce a business-to-business (B2B) e-payment solution, as it partners with the global cargo payment platform Paycargo to offer a secure, user-friendly, and efficient digital payment method for import cargo.

Shippers lobby for direct container links to northern UK ports. Direct calls to northern ports would reduce emissions and congestion. Over half of UK cargo is destined for the northern half of the country. But the three main container hubs are in the south.

Bitcoin’s price is surging. What happens next? The cryptocurrency is up by 63% this year. Bitcoin’s all-time high was earlier today, trading at $73,835.57 per bitcoin. The lowest intraday price that the crypto traded in the past year was $24,228.77.

ONE sets up new regional headquarters in Dubai for west Asian market. New Dubai hub will serve the markets of the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and East Africa. undeep Sibal, the head of global commercial service management at ONE, will lead the new regional headquarters.

Kung-fu literally means “skill acquired through hard practice”