Throughput at China’s main ports totalled 2.64bn tons in the first half of 2009, a rise of 0.5 per cent year-on-year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Transport.

Foreign trade business, however, continued to decline. Throughput of foreign trade products in the first six months decreased 1.3 per cent year-on-year to 950m tons, while that of TEUs decreased 10.9 per cent to 52.42m units. Imports and exports have declined for the past seven months.

Ports that are less reliant on foreign trade business have fared relatively well in recent times. For example, Tianjin Port Co achieved a throughput of 184m tons in the first half of this year, up 1.2 per cent compared with a year ago, while its container throughput rose 1.9 per cent to 4.16m teu.
The bulk cargo sector in China has also performed robustly, partly as a consequence of the Rmb4,000bn government stimulus package. China imported 297m tons of iron ore in the first half of 2009, up 29.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs. In June, iron ore imports hit 55.3m tons, up 46 per cent.

Copper imports have also surged. China imported 475,999 tons of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper products in June, compared with 422,666 tons in May. This represented a 174 per cent increase year-on-year.