The China Container Freight Index (CCFI) reportedly continued to fall in January after plummeting in the previous four months, indicating an overall decline in international freight rates at Chinese ports, a gloomy export trade, and a crisis in which Chinese foreign trade companies are facing business headwinds or even bankruptcy due to reduced orders. On…

Kyocera, one of the largest chip component manufacturers in the world, believes China can no longer play its role as the global factory amid heavy sanctions from the United States, and the company has begun shifting production to other places, including Japan. “It works as long as [products are] made in China and sold in…

Commentary A flurry of reports propagating various economic and demographic statistics from communist China have been in the news lately. Is China on the rebound after reversing Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature—and failed—zero-COVID policy? Have Chinese economic problems been obfuscated by false numbers from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) while avoiding the canary in…

MOSCOW—Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines plummeted to a post-Soviet low in 2022 as its largest customer cut imports due to the conflict in Ukraine and a major pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, Gazprom data and Reuters calculations showed. The European Union, traditionally Russia’s largest consumer for oil and gas, has for years…

HOUSTON—The United States has become a global crude oil exporting power over the last few years, but exports have not exceeded its imports since World War II. That could change next year. Sales of U.S. crude to other nations are now a record 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd), with exports of about 3 million…

BEIJING—China’s exports to sanctions-hit Russia rose at a double-digit pace for the third consecutive month in September, bucking the trend of weakening external demand elsewhere amid the Russia–Ukraine war and a global economic slowdown. Reuters calculations based on Chinese customs data on Monday showed shipments of Chinese goods to Russia rose 21.2 percent from a…

TAIPEI—Taiwan’s export orders unexpectedly expanded in August on strong demand for technology and new consumer electronics product launches like iPhones even as the island’s largest market China faced continued headwinds. But the government said the outlook was mixed due to a series of uncertainties including high global inflation, increasing geopolitical risks and new COVID-19 strains….

ISTANBUL—Two more ships, carrying corn and soybeans, departed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Monday, Turkey and Ukraine said, taking the total to ten since the first ship sailed last week under a deal with Russia to unblock Ukrainian grain exports. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement last month after warnings the halt…

HOUSTON—More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs. The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact…

Commentary May was a great month for Chinese exports. According to the General Administration of Customs, this most recent month for which data are available saw a 12.7 percent rise over April in the value of China’s exports. The administration notes that if this pace holds up, it will overcome the weakness of earlier months…