Has the global economy turned the corner? Perhaps – manufacturing
activity appears to be picking up throughout Asia, Germany and the US and even
demand for airfreight may finally be improving. Still, it is too early to tell,
particularly as it is always difficult to compare year-over-year data for the
months of January and February because of the lunar Chinese New Year holiday.
However, while China’s manufacturing activity stumbled a bit
for February, as noted by the China Customs Administration, its exports for the
first two months of 2013 grew 24% while imports grew 5%. The EU, US and the ASEAN countries were
China’s top trading partners. Exports to the EU increased nearly 3.2% while exports
to the US and the ASEAN countries grew 14.8% and 22% respectively. Exports of
high-tech products grew 26.2% year on year.
Even in the midst of Europe’s economic squalor Germany
appears to be a shining light as new orders and business confidence are on the
rise.
And lastly, US manufacturing picked up steam in February as
new orders jumped 4.5 points from January.
As manufacturing data points to a positive start for 2013, airfreight
maybe seeing signs of improvement. The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines
reported a 4.3% increase in tonnage for the month of January. This was probably
due to the traditional demand for such transport leading up to the temporary
closing of Chinese manufacturing to celebrate the New Year. In fact, according
to Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing, “Demand was
generally quite robust out of our key Hong Kong and Mainland China markets in
January, though we didn’t see any significant pre-Chinese New Year rush as in
previous years.”
While demand for airfreight will likely be sluggish for
February thanks to the Asian holiday, March may see demand rise due to rumored launch
of high tech gadgets.
Improving economic signs and rising demand have also
resulted in the building and expansion of distribution centers in Asia, the US
and Europe. DB Schenker, DHL, UPS and Kerry Logistics are among the various
logistics providers that are undertaking this task. Many of these facilities
appear to be multi-customer focused whereas others are focused on
industry-specific facilities.
The first two months of 2013 appear positive for the global
economy as well as for logistics and transportation providers. Although the
lunar Chinese New Year makes data comparison difficult, it is likely there may
indeed be shoots of growth scattered across the world.
