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The US-China trade war has not only been affecting their exports/imports. It is, in fact, impacting the global supply chain and economy, and India is no exception.
With increasing global trade tension and declining domestic consumption, Indian ports have seen a further decline in cargo in the month of August as compared to the same period last year. Apparently, the cargo handled at the ports had seen improvements in July after two months of consecutive fall.
The fall is mainly in liquid cargo and coal cargo. The liquid cargo, comprising of oil and gas-related products, and the coal cargo together contributes nearly three-fifths of the total cargo volumes in India.
Handling 576.2 lakh tonnes of cargo in August, the ports across the country see a 1% volume growth. According to a Goldman Sachs report, the growth has happened in the container, iron ore and fertilizer cargo.
It is the fourth consecutive month when the coal cargo volume has fallen. Coal volume has fallen to 104 lakh tonnes in August whereas in July it had fallen to 111 lakh tonnes. A 17% fall is seen in coal cargo during last year.
But, among these negatives, the most optimistic thing has come from container cargo which has seen an increment for the second consecutive month. The container volumes had grown 8% compared with last year, the highest in the last 3 months.
Also, iron ore and fertilizer volumes have grown the highest over last year. Iron ore volumes have risen 75%, highest in at least the last 20 months while the fertiliser volumes have grown as much as 30% which is the most in 8 months.
