On 2nd April 2013, the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) released the downward trending container trade figures for February 2013.
Decreases were recorded for 2 out of the 5 measured indicators. The positive indicators demonstrating an increase were, full overseas container imports (4.5%), full overseas container exports (0.5%) and empty overseas container imports (15.3%). The increases are small but nonetheless are heading into positive territory.
The key take-aways from the PoMC report for February are:
Total overseas container throughput (full + empty) for February was 162,615 TEU, this was a decrease of 1.9% over the equivalent period last year and down 2.3% for the financial year to date.
Total (full + empty) container imports for the month were up 5.1% while total (full + empty) container exports decreased by 8.4%.
Full overseas container imports increased 4.5% over February last year to be down 3.2% on a year to date basis.
Commodities with the most notable gains were furniture, clothing, aluminium, toys and sporting goods.
Vehicle parts, rubber manufacturers, raw plastics and machinery returned the most notable declines, whilst exports of cotton, pulp and waste paper, rice, newsprint and dairy recorded the most significant increases for the month.
Empty overseas container movements for February decreased 19.5% over the same period last year to 28,412 TEU to be down 2.3% on a year to date basis. Empty overseas exports decreased 24.3% for the month while imports were up 15.3%.
Miscellaneous manufactures remains steady at the top of the import tally comprising 9.3% of imports while textiles remain the bottom dwellers with 1.5%.
Exports of paperboard and manufactured paper products lead with 7.0% with raw plastics sitting at 1.8% of total exports for Feb 13.
Imports are arriving from East Asia (40,008 containers) accordingly, East Asia is also the destination for most of our export containers (30,891 containers).
To read the full report from the PoMC – www.portofmelbourne.com
