In a report, released by container shipping company Maersk, it is shown that India’s containerised trade grew 6 percent during the last quarter of 2018, with the western region outperforming the other three regions in Q4 trade.
Maersk has attributed the growth in trade to increased demand for refrigerated cargo from India coupled with improved trade relations with China.
While the import growth of 9 percent was led by dry cargo such as plastic, rubber, metal and paper, exports grew by a mere 3 percent and this was largely from refrigerated cargo and agri-commodities, especially vegetables, seafood, nuts, cereals and rice.
China had, in Q4, inked a protocol with India for sourcing fish meal and fish oil. Trade sources expect this trend to continue for some more time.
Commenting on the growth in containerised trade, Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk – South Asia, said, “the stable trade environment was due to base effects, weakening demand in China, overall contraction in manufacturing around the world and global trade tensions between major economies. It also indicates that the economy has managed to sail through some of the challenges including the impact of regulatory reforms such as demonetisation and GST.”
