Descartes: US importers looking at Asian alternatives to China

With the trade war between the US and China showing no signs of abating, American importers have begun sourcing products from alternative low-cost Asian countries, according to data from Descartes Datamyne.

China’s share of Asian imports to the US fell by around 4% in the first half of 2018, with single digit percentage increases in volume from Vietnam, South Korea, India and Taiwan.

This translates into an increase of approximately 1m teu in imports from Asian countries other than China in the first six months of 2019. In fact, overall import volumes were up by 1.5% in the first half of this year while import volumes from China slid by 7%.