U.S. Containerized Imports up for Third Consecutive Month, Led by Growth in Furniture, Auto Parts

NEWARK, N.J., Mar. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Steady sales growth in both automobiles and existing homes over the last few months drove U.S. container import volumes up 4.1 percent in January to 1,475,608 million twenty-foot-equivalent units. This marks the third consecutive month of year-over-year imports increase, and a month-over-month climb of 11 percent.

Expanding the commodity’s continuous growth streak of more than two years, January imports of auto parts rose 19 percent to 56,662 TEUs. Home sales spurred a third straight month of increases in furniture, up 6 percent to 167,294 TEUs. The activity in the housing market bodes well for the short-term outlook of these volumes -- the largest import commodity group, said Mario O. Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce/PIERS.

“The overall employment market is modestly improving, but real consumer spending has remained flat in the last 3 months through January. Higher gasoline prices are a major risk to the import trade as lower disposable income will adversely affect spending on discretionary goods such as apparel, computers, and home goods,” Moreno cautioned, noting a 10 percent drop in menswear in January, though inbound shipments of footwear rose by 4 percent after several months of decline.

Imports from Asia continued to rise, up 2.9 percent in January, with shipments from China climbing the most, up 2 percent to 709,410 TEUs. Moreno forecasts a 2.5 percent increase in U.S. imports from Asia throughout 2012. Also of note, imports from Mexico grew 68 percent for this period.

Moreno’s detailed report can be found in the March 2012 issue of JOC Insights and additional analysis of the JOC/PIERS findings is available online at www.joc.com