Waterborne imports into the US remained in negative territory in June. According to global trade intelligence firm Panjiva, US-bound ocean shipments fell 8.6% in June in terms of teu count. While this marked an improvement over the 19.6% slump seen in May, it continued the year-on-year contraction in imports.
Predictably, imports from China were down 1.7% in June, but flows from other Asian origins fared worse: imports from India and Japan fell 35.8% and 41.4% respectively (the latter attributed chiefly to the near-collapse of automotive traffic); while imports from Europe extended a streak of contraction to seven consecutive months.
US international trade has been plumbing new depths – April set new records, with imports falling 13.7% and exports down 20.5%, but the tally dropped further still in May. As exports sank another 4.4% from April and imports lost another 0.9%, US foreign trade overall declined to $343.6bn, the lowest since April 2010.
Now, hopes for a recovery in the second half are fading. IANA warned recently that international volumes could continue to shrink for the remainder of this year, owing to downward economic pressure and the impact of tariffs.