PIERS: Feb. Container Imports Down 5.8%

April 3, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in sourcing/importing on April 4, 2012

An early lunar New Year holiday led to a 5.8 percent February drop in U.S. containerized imports in February, according to the Journal of Commerce.

February marked the first decline in four months on a year-over-year basis, and was off 18.6 percent from January to 1,193,157 20-foot-equivalent units as demand for furniture, toys and footwear declined on early closing of factories in China for the lunar New Year and soft consumer spending.

While the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, and related factory closings, made accurate year-over-year comparisons difficult, the 18.6 percent tumble from January suggests weakening volume, said Mario O. Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce/PIERS. Prior to the slide, furniture, the largest import commodity group, had been leading an import surge.

February imports from Asia tumbled 10 percent year over year, after a 3 percent increase in January. Moreno noted that his first quarter forecast of 1 percent growth in trade from Asia might be a bit optimistic.

"Overall demand for imported home goods remains relatively modest as the pace of home sales recovers at a stubbornly slow manner," Moreno said. "Meanwhile, consumer spending rose faster than incomes in February, mainly at the expense of savings, which raises a concern for the sustainability of spending in the long run."

PIERS is a comprehensive database of U.S. waterborne trade activity in the world providing information services to thousands of subscribers globally. PIERS is a division of UBM Global Trade, and a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.