Rush to Beat Tariffs is over in US
Retail
Imports Level Off
After
a higher import of 5.3% YoY
Ill-advised
trade war invites slower H1 2019
Imports
at the nation’s major retail container ports have slowed down after a months-long
rush to beat increased tariffs on goods from China, according to the monthly
Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and
Hackett Associates.
“With
the holiday season behind us, the immediate pressure to stock up on merchandise
has passed but retailers remain concerned about tariffs and their impact on the
nation’s economy,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy
Jonathan Gold said.
“Retailers
have also brought in much of their spring merchandise early to protect
consumers against higher prices that will eventually come with tariffs. Our
industry is hoping the talks currently under way will bring an end to this
ill-advised trade war and result in a more appropriate way of responding to
China’s trade abuses that won’t force American consumers, workers and
businesses to pay the price.”
U.S.
ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.81 million Twenty-Foot
Equivalent Units in November, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers
are available. That was up 2.5 percent year-over-year but down 11.4 percent
from the record of 2.04 million TEU set in October. A TEU is one 20-foot-long
cargo container or its equivalent.
December
was estimated at 1.79 million TEU, a 3.7 percent year-over-year increase. That
would bring 2018 to a total of 21.6 million TEU, an increase of 5.3 percent
over 2017’s record 20.5 million TEU.
January
is forecast at 1.75 million TEU, down 0.9 percent from January 2018; February
at 1.67 million TEU, also down 0.9 percent year-over-year; March at 1.55
million TEU, up 0.6 percent; April at 1.69 million TEU, up 3.7 percent, and May
at 1.8 million TEU, down 1.3 percent. February and March are typically two of
the slowest months of the year for imports, both because of the post-holiday
drop in demand and because of Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in Asia.
“There
have been record-high levels of imports over the past several months, primarily
due to raised inventories ahead of expected tariff increases,” Hackett
Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “But we are projecting declining volumes
in the coming months and an overall weakness in imports for the first half of
the year.”
Global Port Tracker,
which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the
U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West
Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port
Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf
Coast.
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