Asia - Europe trade drop in September

European imports and exports softened in September in all seven trades monitored.

The latest data from Container Trade Statistics (CTS) shows that in September, from Asia, imports slipped by 10% compared to August. The figures complete the picture for the third quarter of 2010.
Imports to Europe on all trades in Quarter 3 remain higher than a year ago. Exports from Europe are also higher year on year except to Asia where they fell by 7.2%.

September exports to Asia continued the monthly decline year on year for the fifth month in succession. They were also 0.5% down on August and 14% down on the March peak figure.

CTS should note, however, that Quarter 3 exports of 1,342,800 TEU were 1.4% higher than the 1,324,189 TEU carried in 2008. The monthly rate of growth in Q3 imports from Asia continued to decline year on year but Q3 2010 as a whole was a significant 14.5% up on Q3 2009.

Imports from India and the Middle East were 5% lower than in August and 11% less than the peak figure in March. The more dominant export leg of this trade showed a decline in September of 13% on August although Q3 2010 is up 1% over Q3 2009.

Imports to Europe from South and Central America were 5% down in August and 10.5% lower than the peak in March. Year to date exports to South and Central America from Europe were a remarkable 51% above 2009.

Imports to Europe from North America declined by 2% compared to August and were 10.5% less than the peak in March. The year on year growth rate for September in exports to North America declined to 6%.
The Europe to Asia Aggregated Price Index declined 5 points in September to 107 and 5 points to 114 for imports from Asia.

The Australian Aggregated Price Indices remained stable increasing one point for imports to 101 and decreasing one point for exports to 97.

For North America imports and exports on the index for September increased by one point to 108 and 84 respectively. Exports to South and Central America reached a peak of 95 in September. Imports remained stable at 87.