12th consecutive month of declines U.S. furniture imports fell 20% in July!
Due to the high inflation reduces the American family in the furniture and other aspects of the expenditure, from Asia exports to the United States of America's sea freight declined sharply.
According to the U.S. media reported on August 23, Standard & Poor's Global Market Intelligence (S&P Global Market Intelligence) released the latest data show that the U.S. container freight imports in July fell year-on-year. July U.S. container imports of 2.53 million TEU (twenty-foot TEUs), a year-on-year decline of 10%, compared with 2.43 million in June. TEUs was 4 per cent higher.
This was the 12th consecutive month of year-on-year declines, but July's figure was the smallest year-on-year drop since September 2022, the agency said.From January to July, imports were 16.29 million TEUs, down 15 per cent from a year earlier.
S&P said July's drop was mainly due to a 16 per cent annual decline in imports of discretionary consumer goods, adding that imports of apparel and furniture fell by 23 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.
In addition, freight rates and prices for new containers fell to three-year lows as retailers stopped stockpiling as heavily as they did at the peak of the new crown epidemic.
Furniture shipments began to plummet over the summer, with quarterly shipment totals even lower than 2019 levels.
"These are the **numbers** we've seen in almost three years." Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at NRF, said, "Retailers are cautious and they're watching."
"In some ways, 2023 looks a lot like 2020, when the world economy ground to a halt due to the new crown and no one knew what the future held." Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates, added, "Freight volumes are down and the economy is in the midst of employment and payroll problems, while high inflation and rising interest rates could trigger a recession."
"There is no widespread shutdown of the city, but it is very similar to what will happen in the 2020 shutdown."
