Materials prices saw strong week-on-week declines as the market became more concerned about weakening consumer demand.
LOGISTICS
Volumes from Asia to Europe have fallen on an inflation-driven decrease in demand. However port congestion is getting worse, keeping ocean rates above the norm, said Freightos.
Shanghai port operations are nearly back to normal, reaching 95% of volume before lockdown, per UPS.
Floating rates remain lower than contract rates. Some importers are moving to the floating market instead of contracted space in the short-term, while the shape of the market for the remainder of the year remains uncertain, said Flexport.
Port congestion at Laem Chabang, Thailand, is causing a four-to-five-day vessel departure delay, per UPS.
Capacity from Asia to the US continues to further open up, per Flexport.
Containership port congestion globally remains elevated, with the total level of boxship capacity at port standing at 36.2% of the fleet at the end of June, above the year to date average of 35.7% and the 2016-19 average of 31.5%, according to the ClarkSea Index.
For the fourth consecutive month, air cargo volume continued to fall in June by 8% compared to last year. Despite the weakening demand, air freight rates were 13% higher than last year’s levels, said UPS.
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MATERIALS
After months of prices that seemed to have no upper limits, materials prices finally hit what looks like a ceiling.
Analysts point to rapidly decreasing consumer demand that is now being felt upstream.
Even oil prices fell on concerns over weaker demand, especially in China, the world’s biggest crude importer.
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