Not long ago China was the economic engine of the global economy and the powerhouse driving the air cargo industry. But impacted by the global economic crisis, China too has felt the severe impact of the recession with the World Bank’s projection for China’s GDP growth recently lowered to 6.5 per cent from 7.5 per cent. China’s exports declined 25.7 per cent year-on-year in February, the fourth straight monthly decline, according to China’s General Administration of Customs and the country’s air cargo volumes fell 28 per cent in February from a year earlier.
Industry consolidation is still the watchword among China’s carriers, although this has been tempered by the downturn which has seen a number of carriers ask for government bailouts.
The impact on cargo carriers has been massive, and while foreign carriers have the luxury of pulling capacity out of the market, Chinesecarriers have less options. But with positive domestic growth and a recent stimulus packagefrom the Chinese government, its not all doomand gloom for China’s air cargo industry.
The China Air Cargo Supplement in the May issue of Payload Asia will examine the developments in China’s air cargo industry and examine how cargo carriers are fairing and what strategies they are adopting to deal with the downturn.
For advertising in the May supplement, please contact Alvin Lim of Reed Business Information at email: [email protected] or call him at +65 6780 4521 (GMT +8). For editorial coverage please contact Donald Urquhart at email: [email protected], or call him at +65 6780 4396 (GMT +8).