NEWARK, N.J. – Steady sales growth in both automobiles and existing homes over the past few months drove U.S. container import volumes up 4.1 percent in January, to 1,475,608 million 20-foot-equivalent units. This marks the third consecutive month of year-over-year imports increase, and a month-over-month climb of 11 percent, according to PIERS trade data.
 
Expanding the commodity’s continuous growth streak of more than two years, January imports of auto parts rose 19 percent to 56,662 TEUs.
 
Mario Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce, noted however, that high gas prices pose a risk for import trade.
 
"The overall employment market is modestly improving, but real consumer spending has remained flat in the last three months through January," Moreno said. "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,"
 
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 is also available online at www.joc.com.