Volume of Red Sea containers falls in Dec 2023: Kiel Trade Indicator

The current volume is only around 200,000 containers per day, compared to around 500,000 containers in November.

As a result, freight costs and transportation time in goods traffic between East Asia and Europe have risen and imports and exports from Germany and the European Union (EU) are in some cases significantly lower than in November 2023.

The slightly negative trend in global trade and trade between major economies continues. The conflict in the Middle East, in particular attacks on container ships in the Red Sea, is likely to be one reason for the weak trading month, KIEL Institute for the World Economy said in a release.

Global trade fell by 1.3 per cent (price- and seasonally-adjusted) from November to December last year.

For the EU, the indicator figures for both exports (minus 2 per cent) and imports (minus 3.1 per cent) are clearly in the red.

Germany's foreign trade continued the weak phase of recent months, with exports (minus 2 per cent) and imports (minus 1.8 per cent) falling again month on month.

The Kiel Trade Indicator value for exports (minus 1.5 per cent) and imports (1 per cent) shows a decline in December trade in the United States, even though the sea route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal plays a lesser role there than in Europe.

China's trade is bucking the trend, with figures for both exports (1.3 per cent) and imports (3.1 per cent) pointing upwards. Parts of this increase may be due to an annual peak before the Chinese New Year.

"The detour of ships due to the attacks in the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa means that the time it takes to transport goods between Asian production centers and European consumers is significantly extended by up to 20 days," says Julian Hinz, director of the Trade Policy Research Centre and new head of the Kiel Trade Indicator.

"This is also reflected in the declining trade figures for Germany and the EU, as transported goods are now still at sea and have not already been unloaded in the ports as planned,” she adds.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)