Global and Asia Pacific Freight Volumes Experience a Strong Recovery

Last week, global air cargo volumes saw a significant uptick, rising by 6% compared to the previous week. This surge was primarily driven by a robust recovery in shipments from the Asia Pacific region, influenced by recent changes in tariff policies in the US and an increase in activity following holidays in Japan and South Korea.

According to WorldACD Market Data’s latest analysis, a considerable portion of this 6% increase came from China and Hong kong, which experienced an 8% rise. Japan saw an extraordinary 60% jump while South Korea reported a 21% increase as they bounced back from their respective holidays—Japan’s Golden Week and Children’s Day celebrations. Asia Pacific origins contributed to an impressive 11% growth week-on-week. The Middle East & South Asia (MESA) also showed strong performance with an 11% rise alongside Europe’s solid growth of 6%.

The Impact of US-China Tariff Adjustments

The recent end of certain import tariff exemptions for low-value goods coming from China and Hong Kong into the US led to a temporary decline in traffic earlier this month. Many transpacific freighter services were either canceled or rerouted due to these changes. However, following a de-escalation of trade tensions between the two nations on May 12—which included some tariffs being lifted or postponed—traffic rebounded sharply with shipments from China and Hong Kong increasing by nearly 19%. This resurgence brought tonnages back up close to early April levels after experiencing notable declines.

Spot rates for this route have stabilized around $4 per kilogram after experiencing volatility earlier last month.

Tonnages moving from China and Hong Kong towards Europe have also seen improvement recently; ther was even a notable increase of about 9%.This has pushed volumes close to peak levels typically seen during November-December periods. However, pricing trends show that spot rates dipped slightly for shipments heading from China to Europe at $3.71 per kilo—a decrease over several weeks—while rates from Hong Kong edged up marginally at $4.39 per kilo but remain below average historical figures.

A Dip in Flower Shipments

this overall growth was somewhat tempered by reduced demand for flower shipments originating from Central & South America (CSA), which fell by about four percent post-Mother’s Day celebrations on may 11 across various countries. North America also saw slight declines (-2%) along with Africa (-1%).

A comparison between two-week periods shows that CSA tonnages dropped substantially—by approximately -23%, although they are still up year-on-year (YoY) by about three percent overall when looking at weeks combined against last year’s figures.

On pricing fronts globally, average shipping costs rose slightly (+2%) reaching $2.33 per kilogram thanks largely to increases stemming from Asia Pacific origins; however, these prices are still down -4% compared with last year during the same period.

MESA regions experienced more pronounced price drops YoY—with spot rates plummeting around -23%, reflecting adjustments after inflated prices observed last year during peak times.