Rail and port cargo volumes start to revive
Mainland rail traffic and port cargo volume showed significant improvement last month, another sign of a rebound in the domestic economy.
For the first time since September last year, when the global economic crisis struck, cargo throughput at mainland ports registered double-digit annual growth of 12.9 per cent, the Ministry of Transport said.
Cargo flowing through mainland ports amounted to about 500 million tonnes last month, the ministry estimated. International cargo grew 13.8 per cent to 190 million tonnes, while domestic cargo grew 12.5 per cent to 310 million tonnes.
'The domestic economy grew stronger than expected. The stimulus package really worked,' said Jay Ryu Je-hyun, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
Although cargo volume increased, container shipments did not. Container throughput at the mainland's major ports fell 3.8 per cent to 10.1 million 20-foot equivalent units (teu) last month. Nevertheless, it was the smallest year-on-year decline this year and 6.4 percentage points less than for June, according to the ministry.
Beijing has launched stimulus policies across sectors including infrastructure and cars to tackle the economic crisis.
As a result, average daily rail cargo traffic grew 0.3 per cent to 9.14 million tonnes last month, the first positive year-on-year growth since November last year, according to the Ministry of Railways.
'China's rail cargo traffic is bottoming out after eight months of annual decline, indicating that policies to counter the global economic crisis are starting to take effect,' said the ministry.
Last month, iron ore imports reached a new high for the year, growing 35 per cent year on year to 56.5 million tonnes, 10 percentage points faster than June's growth rate, the transport ministry said.
Mainland demand for iron ore is driven by factors such as infrastructure, car manufacturing and stronger domestic consumption, Mr Ryu said.
Coal imports in July were 3.8 times more than a year earlier, while crude oil imports grew 25.9 per cent to 16.27 million tonnes, the transport ministry said.
One driver of coal demand is power generation, an indicator of economic and manufacturing activity, Mr Ryu said.
Although container volume continued to slip, there was strong month-on-month improvement in mainland port volumes last month.
That was likely due to demand from the United States during the back-to-school shopping season, Willy Lin Sun-mo, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers' Council, said.
