U.S. containerized import volume rose 5% Y-o-Y in November, a sharp turnaround in the slumping market that was pushed by strong gains in shipments tied to the recovering housing industry, reported Mario O. Moreno, economist for PIERS/The Journal of Commerce.
Increases in home sales have buoyed the housing market, leading to a 7% November growth in shipments of furniture, a top import commodity.
“A healthy housing market is key to the revival of U.S. containerized imports growth as many of the goods consumers purchase to furnish a home are imported,” Moreno said. He pointed to additional expansion in November in cooking and heat appliances, lamps and parts, and kitchenware. Growth in these other commodities contributed to the increase in imports from China—up 4.1% Y-o-Y, the country’s first rise in eight months. Demand for local lumber was a key factor in a surprising November increase of 515% in imports from Canada.
“The question is, are we seeing a self-sustained recovery in home sales?” Moreno said. “This will depend very much on how many jobs the economy can generate every month… Over the last 12 months through November, the economy generated an average of 132,000 jobs per month (NSA). We are not there yet, but getting closer.”
On a month-to-month basis, overall imports edged up 0.3% in November, and YTD, imports were up 3%.
A full analysis of these findings is available online at www.joc.com, or for a more a granular look at U.S. waterborne shipments including company names, commodity, carrier, country of origin/destination and more, visit www.piers.com.
Tags: containerized imports, furniture, housing industry, import commodity, jobs, Journal of Commerce, Mario O. Moreno, PIERS, waterborne shipments
January 24, 2012 at 2:32 pm |
[...] 1 | As reported by PIERS/The Journal of Commerce, U.S. containerized imports grew 5% in a year-over-year analysis performed in November 2011. Substantial growth in home sales and demand for home furnishings|appliances helped influence the rise in inbound shipments. (more) [...]
January 28, 2012 at 7:00 am |
[...] PIERS: U.S. Containerized Imports Grow 5% in November. U.S. containerized import volume rose 5% Y-o-Y in November, a sharp turnaround in the slumping [...]