US air trade in May: Exports decline and COVID shipments dominate imports

U.S. air trade data for May showed an overall decline in imports of 6% and in exports of 24% compared to May 2019. In April, imports and exports declined by 15% and 24%, respectively. Predictably, COVID-related imports performed well, but we also registered large growth in computers and accessories, as well as semiconductors and related equipment. Growth in computers was driven by laptops and in the semiconductor growth was driven by circuits. The table below shows an overview of performance by product group from our U.S. Air Trade Database. U.S. air trade in May 2020 and May 2019, air weight in metric tonnes (Source: CFC Air Trade Database, USA Trade Online)

Apparel and footwear saw growth of 61%, but this was driven entirely by shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) as 45 of 77 kilotonnes of traffic related to apparel and footwear consisted of protective garments. Without PPE, this category would have declined by 27%. The growth of 25 kilotonnes of imports in the special classifications category consists of "imports of articles exported and returned." This commodity group, the use of which required U.S. Customs and Border Protection approval, has seen large increases in previous months and may be linked to additional COVID-related shipments. Most other import commodity groups showed a similar trend in April, and the same was true for exports, which showed a decline in all key product groups.

While COVID-related shipments account for approximately 40% of air imports from China and about 20% overall, most air freight remains linked to supply chain cargo, consumer goods and food. The following two charts show the share of COVID-related shipments of medical supplies, protective equipment, disinfectants and so on. Almost 90% consists of PPE and the like. Roughly two-thirds of COVID-related imports into the U.S. in May were from China.

With June manufacturing activity looking better and consumer spending improving, we can expect performance of normal air freight commodities to show some improvement, at least compared to previous months.

US air trade in May: Exports decline and COVID shipments dominate imports

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