Steady sales growth in automobiles and existing homes over the last few months drove US container import volumes up 4.1 percent in January to 1,475,608 million TEUs , according to Journal of Commerce and PIERS economist Mario O Moreno.
This marked the third consecutive month of year-over-year imports increase, and a month-over-month climb of 11 percent. Expanding a growth streak of more than two years, January imports of auto parts rose 19 percent to 56,662 TEUs. Home sales spurred a third straight month of increases in furniture, up 6 percent to 167,294 TEUs. Imports from Asia continued to rise, up 2.9 percent in January, with shipments from China climbing the most, up 2 percent to 709,410 TEUs. Moreno forecasts a 2.5 percent increase in US imports from Asia throughout 2012. Also of note, imports from Mexico grew 68 percent for this period.
