TOKYO: Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc., a subsidiary of Japan’s largest international freight forwarder Nippon Express Co., predicts Japan’s international air cargo trade will contract for the first time in two years.
The Tokyo-based firm revised its previous fiscal 2015 forecast of a 3.8 percent decline to 5.4 percent as Japan feels the effects of the economic slowdown in China, one of its largest trading partners.
Air cargo exports are projected to tumble 6.4 percent from a year earlier to 1 million tons, while air cargo imports are projected to slide 4.4 percent to 1.1 million tons. NRIC had previously forecast a 4.6 percent decline in exports and a 3 percent drop in imports.
In fiscal 2014, Japan’s air cargo trade with foreign countries expanded 4.2 percent year-over-year, with exports up a whopping 15.4, which offset an import drop of 4.7 percent.
China’s economic decline has caused Asia-Pacific air carriers’ traffic year-over-year to drop 2 percent in July and 1 percent in August, the most recent months for which data is available.
