From CCTV Finance news on December 7th, China’s foreign trade imports and exports have maintained growth this year, but the persistently high sea freight prices have put a lot of pressure on foreign trade companies. Not long ago, they have dropped from historical highs. But now heating up again, with the production and consumption in Southeast Asia’s recovery.

According to data from Ningbo Shipping Exchange, in November, the freight index of the Thai-Vietnam route increased by 72.2% month-on-month. In the past week, the freight index of the Singapore-Malaysia route increased by 9.8% month-on-month. An industry insider told reporters: “The freight rates of some ports in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia have generally risen by more than US$3,000. Before the epidemic, the freight rate was US$200-300, and it rose to more than US$1,000 during the epidemic. The current price should be the highest since the outbreak of the epidemic.”

Behind the continuous surge in ocean freight rates, there are reasons why major economies such as Europe and the United States are gradually getting out of the epidemic and demand continues to be repaired, and there are also reasons for the lack of global shipping capacity. Today, the resumption of production and work in Southeast Asian countries has led to a continuous increase in demand for shipping, making the already insufficient shipping capacity even more scarce.

In addition, the soaring sea freight rates in Southeast Asia are also related to the increasingly close trade relations between China and ASEAN. The total value of China’s imports and exports in the first November has exceeded that of last year, and ASEAN is China’s largest trading partner. The total trade value between the two sides is 5.11 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%, accounting for 14.4% of China’s total foreign trade value. Now facing the uncertainty of the Omicron variant virus, it is not difficult to understand why the sea freight rates in Southeast Asia have skyrocketed again.