China’s outbound shipping container volume extends October gains

Sector index up 0.3 per cent in week through Friday, with shipments to Australia and New Zealand leading the way

Rise suggests further growth in Chinese exports, with Beijing set to release third-quarter GDP figures on Monday

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China’s container shipments have risen steadily in the second half of 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:14pm, 18 Oct 2020Updated: 10:52pm, 18 Oct 2020

China’s outbound container shipping volume continued its upwards momentum in the second week of October, suggesting further gains in the country’s total exports in the first month of the fourth quarter.

The China Containerised Freight Index stood at 1,053.8 on Friday, up 0.3 per cent from a week earlier.

The index has risen steadily in the second half of the year after falling sharply due to impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s total exports have followed a similar pattern, rising for a fourth straight month in September, with the growth rate accelerating to 9.9 per cent from 9.5 per cent in August.

Container-based exports to Australia and New Zealand posted the biggest increase in the week, at 5.4 per cent, followed by shipments to South Africa, which rose 4.5 per cent.

Container shipments to the west coast of the United States rose 1.8 per cent in the period, while those to America’s east coast fell 0.5 per cent. Shipments to Europe also slipped, by 0.1 per cent.

Beijing is set to release gross domestic product data for the third quarter on Monday, with analysts polled by Bloomberg estimating the overall growth rate to have accelerated to 5.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent in the second quarter.