China’s shipping costs lowered, but trade haunted by global woes

Upward trajectory: Driverless vehicles move shipping containers at a port in Qingdao in Shandong Province. China’s foreign trade soared 10.7% on a yearly basis to US$1.48 trillion in the first quarter. — AP

BEIJING: Despite notable drops in the cost of shipping containers from China to Europe and the United States since late 2021, many Chinese exporters have delayed their delivery times for existing orders and instead rushed to secure fresh orders, to cope with the changing scenarios both at home and abroad.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has inflated prices of energy and agricultural products in Europe and the Middle East, besides causing fluctuations in the exchange rate of the US dollar.