Last week(W465), the overall FBX index closed at 1157.36$, down 5%.
Transatlantic:
China/East Asia – North America West Coast decreased with 8% and the sub-index sits at 1573$;
China/East Asia – North America East Coast closed at 2383$, down 2% WoW;
Corss Suez:
China/East Asia – North Europe: 1291$, -6% (ending 5 consecutive weeks of appreciation);
China/East Asia – Mediterranean: 1487$, down %%.
The overall index for the same week last year (2022) was at 3040.2$.
While the region has made some progress on trade openness, it continues to be held back due largely to poor infrastructure, burdensome customs clearance procedures, as well as relatively high tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. One important measure for trade openness, the sum of exports and imports of goods and services, stands at just 47 percent of gross domestic product. That’s about 20 percentage points below the level for other emerging markets around the world.
On October 18, 2023, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) amended the export restriction on sugar beyond October 31, 2023, to an indefinite period. The export of sugar under the CXL concession quota with the United Kingdom and the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) with the United States are unaffected.
With the Indian government quoting a high price for sugar, which Nepal plans to import through a government-to-government arrangement, top Nepali government officials said they may approach Pakistan for the sweetener if India’s offer doesn’t prove sweet enough.
Due to issues ranging from quality (small crystal sugar) to pricing, the process of importing sugar in a government-to-government deal to meet the Tihar festival demand has been deferred, sources privy to the matter told the Post.
Nepal’s annual sugar requirement is around 270,000 tonnes.
The country faces an annual deficit of about 100,000 tonnes of the sweetener, which is fulfilled through imports by the private sector and sometimes by two government companies.
The global fleet of cargo-carrying ships consists of around 61,000 ships with a deadweight capacity of about 61M tonnes. The ships owned by Greek and Chinese shipping companies contribute 34% of the total fleet’s deadweight tonne capacity.
Although consolidation has been significant within the container shipping segment, the overall shipping market is still very fragmented, and the average shipping company only owns a few ships. Over time, key shipping nations have, however, emerged. Some have since lost importance due to shifts in global trade, but Greece has remained the world’s foremost shipping nation.
US consumer price inflation slowed more than expected in October. Higher borrowing costs will increasingly weigh on activity and corporate pricing power while slowing housing rents will be the main driver of disinflation over the next two quarters. With 2% inflation looking possible by next summer the pricing of rate cuts will intensify
Despite leaving the one-year medium-term lending facility (1Y MLF) at 2.5%, the PBoC injected a net CNY600bn (over and above amounts falling due) to help support stimulus spending, raising thoughts that perhaps they may also tap other policy tools such as required reserves in due course
Indonesia’s exports and imports fell as expected in October although both slipped at a less pronounced pace. Exports fell 10.4% year-on-year compared to the drop of 16.2% YoY in September. Lower global prices for mainstay exports of coal, nickel and palm oil contributed to the lower export performance. Meanwhile, imports were down a modest 2.4% YoY compared to -12.5% YoY reported in the previous month.
This resulted in the trade balance staying largely unchanged from the previous month at roughly $3.5bn, much lower than the record high in 2022 but better than the lows of less than a billion recorded earlier in this year.
In marketing year (MY) 2023/24, due to favorable climatic conditions and abundant rainfall in the winter, Post estimates that avocado production will total 200,000 metric tons (MT), a 21.2 percent increase from MY 2022/23. Area planted will total 32,710 hectares, a one percent growth from MY 2022/23. MY 2023/24 exports are estimated at 110,000 MT, a 24.4 percent growth over the previous marketing year due to the higher production volume. Imports will decrease by 14.1 percent and total 65,000 MT to cover for total domestic consumption which will reach 155,000 metric tons. Chileans consume avocado on a daily basis and throughout the year, in salads, sandwiches and a variety of other products that are sold in foodservice. The top-quality avocado is sold mainly in retail; food service purchases lower grade avocado to use in sandwiches, hot-dogs, and sushi.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) lifted Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza-related (HPAI) restrictions on seven U.S. states on November 10, 2023. The restrictions had prevented facilities in those states from exporting raw poultry and poultry products and/or live poultry to the PRC. FAS China strongly encourages poultry meat and poultry product establishments and trade members to check for status updates on the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Export Library or the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service iREGS websites before exporting to the PRC.
The amount of Vietnam’s pepper inventory for 2024 will be the lowest level in recent years because the country’s pepper output of the 2022-2023 crop has all been exported, Vietnam News reported Monday citing the Vietnam Pepper Association.
In the long term, Vietnam’s pepper supply is expected to be in short supply due to fierce competition from other crops such as durian and passion fruit, according to the association.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import-Export Department forecast that Vietnam’s pepper exports will remain at a low level because the domestic supply is no longer abundant and consumption demand in the U.S. and EU markets has not really improved.
In the last months of this year, the enterprises will export the imported and pre-existing inventory pepper with a volume of about 50,000 tons, the ministry said.
By the end of October 2023, Vietnam exported 223,578 tons of pepper of all kinds with a total export turnover of 750.8 million U.S. dollars, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
