Newsletter - October2020

Centrolene
NewsEdge Know more.
Page: 12
will continue.
“When I talk to our customers, they are looking for alternative production
sites. There is little confidence in the China-US relationship, I think that’s very
clear, especially when we talk to our customers in the US.
Dependence on China questioned
“China will always be important because it’s China. But to be so dependent on
China, those times might be over.
“However, we see very strong volumes right now. Whether the situation will
change can be only said post-Corona and after the US elections.”
As a recent webinar organised by Flexport made clear, exports to the US from
countries in South East Asia that have benefitted from shifting production
away from China were far more robust during the early stage of coronavirus
lockdowns.
After five tough months, US imports from China started to pick up from June.
However, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia have all enjoyed moresteady
growth in exports to the US this year, with Vietnam prospering
particularly strongly throughout the pandemic (see table).
A survey of Flexport webinar participants found that over 50% had shifted
volumes away from China in the last six months and 31.6% had moved more
than 10%.
Nerijus Poskus, Global Head of Ocean Freight at Flexport, said that China lost
volumes at the start of the year, but a clear takeaway from 2020 in terms of
sourcing patterns was that the clear “winner of trade war between the US and
China is definitely Vietnam”.
He added: “Vietnamese imports to the US remained extraordinarily strong