China’s booming export markets are causing a worldwide shortage of containers.
The shortage, together with accelerating international freight costs, particularly shipping costs, is such that it is now resulting in a curbing of Chinese exports.
Demand for health goods, particularly surgical masks as a result of the pandemic, as well as electronic goods including computers has been soaring for the past six months, exacerbating the demand for containers.
China exporters have also been able to take advantage of the suppression of other markets due to severe lockdowns and other measures and border closures that have restricted freight movements and stifled economies.
“The soaring prices for China’s outward shipments due to a shortage of shipping capacity will weigh on China’s export growth, despite resilient external demand helped by the holiday season and factory lockdowns throughout Europe,” Serena Zhou, a fixed-income analyst at Mizuho Financial Group Inc. in Hong Kong wrote in a report.
