trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/_0rQdvNllcYXWsFXKBH41g2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Nintendo switches on import growth; MSC's trusted trader status is reinstated

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 50: InfoSec spending up, again…

Blog

Broadcast deal market recap 2021

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Volume of Investment Research Reports on Inflation Increased in Q4 2021


Nintendo switches on import growth; MSC's trusted trader status is reinstated

The Supply Chain Daily provides a curated overview of Panjiva's research and insights covering global trade policy, the logistics sector and industrial supply chains and draws from global shipping and freight data.

Nintendo turns on imports, Switch Lite's sales start slow
The launch of Nintendo Co.'s Switch Lite videogame console has not gone as well as expected in Japan, according to media reports, with the success of the system only likely to be proven in the forthcoming EU and U.S. holiday season.

Shipments to the U.S. will become subject to tariffs from mid-December unless the Trump administration's policy changes. China represented 97.4% of U.S. console imports by all manufacturers in the 12 months to July 31, though Nintendo already plans to shift production to Vietnam.

U.S. imports of videogame systems increased by 16.1% year over year in August, Panjiva's seaborne shipping data shows, with shipments associated with Nintendo rising 43.9% ahead of the Switch Lite launch. Shipments linked to Sony Corp.'s PlayStation may have declined — as was the case for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox — due to the next generation of its platform not arriving until later in 2020.

(Panjiva Research - Tech. Hardware)

SNL Image

MSC status reinstated after drugs bust
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA has regained its expedited customs status from the U.S. government. The company temporarily lost its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism status — a U.S. supply chain security program under which trusted traders receive fewer cargo inspections — following the seizure of cocaine on the MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia in June. One crew member has been charged.

Panjiva's data shows total U.S.-inbound volumes handled fell 5.6% year over year in August, compared to an average 0.7% for all liners. Shipments from Central and South America slumped 38.6% lower and it remains to be seen if that business can be rebuilt in the short term.

The C-TPAT issue is not the only challenge for MSC. Volumes carried on China-to-U.S. routes dropped 9.3% year over year in August, compared to 1.0% for all carriers. On a brighter note, imports from Europe and the rest of the world continued to improve.

(Panjiva Research - Logistics)

SNL Image

Hapag-Lloyd beats CMA-CGM as Houston's growth slows
Port Houston, Texas, has signed a purchase contract for three new cranes as part of its expansion program that will allow the port to handle larger vessels in the future of up to 18,000 20-foot equivalent units in capacity.

The port experienced handling growth of 8.6% year over year in August, the 18th increase in the past 20 months, led by a 22.4% surge in exports. That was better than the performance seen by West Coast ports and was markedly better than growth of just 4.1% in imports.

Panjiva's seaborne shipping data shows import growth has slowed steadily from 5.9% in the three months to July 31 and from 9.7% in the first quarter. The slowdown has been partly due to the U.S.-China trade war cutting volumes and partly due to slower traffic growth from Mexico of just 0.9%.

The latter masks a shift in the competitive landscape between the container-lines. Hapag-Lloyd AG's volumes handled on Mexico-to-U.S. routes jumped 23.4% while CMA CGM SA's dropped 29.0% year over year.

(Panjiva Research - Logistics)

SNL Image

Rothfos, Starbucks unlikely to be bothered by Vietnam's coffee cutback
Coffee exports from Vietnam fell 4.9% year over year in July after a 7.0% slide in the second quarter, partly due to a process of stockpiling that is likely to continue, according to Simexco Daklak's CEO, Le Tien Hung. Yet at the global level that has been offset by a 28.2% year-over-year surge in exports from Brazil in July, with the result that global exports rose 8.7%.

There has been a similar outcome in the U.S where imports from Vietnam fell 11.5% in July and may have dropped 43.3% year over year in August, according to Panjiva's shipping data. By contrast exports from Brazil climbed 21.1%, offsetting the Vietnamese drop.

Leading importers to the U.S. of Vietnamese coffee, including Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V. and Rothfos Corp., have simply replaced their requirements with shipments from Brazil, Honduras and Guatemala. Starbucks Corp. may have almost completely avoided Vietnamese supplies.

(Panjiva Research - Commodities)

Mexico's trade reversal points to problems for Pemex
Mexico's international trade activity fell 2.0% year over year in August, worsening from growth of just 1.5% in the prior three months on average. While there was good news in the form of export growth of 5.0% — which has come despite weaker export revenues for Pemex — imports dropped 5.9% in total and 3.7% excluding oil products.

Of most concern is a 14.0% year-over-year drop in exports of capital goods in August. The decline was led in dollar terms by weaker imports of transmission systems, centrifuges and pumps that suggest slower investment across the board, but particularly in the energy sector.

(Panjiva Research - Energy)

Christopher Rogers is a senior researcher at Panjiva, which is a business line of S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. This content does not constitute investment advice, and the views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The Supply Chain Daily has an editorial deadline of 5:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current at the time of publication. S&P Global Market Intelligence is not responsible if those links are unavailable later.