The Container Throughput Index of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI) and the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) shows a notable increase from a corrected 110.9 to 113.4 after seasonal adjustment for September. A large portion of the losses since May were hence evened out. If this tendency is confirmed next month, the weakness of world trade during the summer would have been nothing but a short interlude.
The August value was changed only slightly from 110.6 to 110.9. However, contrary to last month's issue, this is slight growth over July. This is because the July value was revised downwards due to an unexpectedly weak performance of a major port whose data had still been missing. The September flash forecast is based on 34 ports handling roughly 50% of the traffic represented in the index. Once more, a number of major Chinese ports have not yet reported their results.
The Index is based on data for 72 international ports covering more than 60% of world container handling. These ports are continuously monitored by the ISL as part of their market analysis. Because large parts of international merchandise trade are transported by ship, the development of port handling is a good indicator for world trade. As many ports release information about their activities only two weeks after the end of the respective month, the RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index is a reliable early indicator for the development of international merchandise trade and hence for the activity of the global economy.
The August value was changed only slightly from 110.6 to 110.9. However, contrary to last month's issue, this is slight growth over July. This is because the July value was revised downwards due to an unexpectedly weak performance of a major port whose data had still been missing. The September flash forecast is based on 34 ports handling roughly 50% of the traffic represented in the index. Once more, a number of major Chinese ports have not yet reported their results.
The Index is based on data for 72 international ports covering more than 60% of world container handling. These ports are continuously monitored by the ISL as part of their market analysis. Because large parts of international merchandise trade are transported by ship, the development of port handling is a good indicator for world trade. As many ports release information about their activities only two weeks after the end of the respective month, the RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index is a reliable early indicator for the development of international merchandise trade and hence for the activity of the global economy.
