China's two-week port closure to have a mixed impact on India's trade

India has been facing acute shortage of containers since November 2020 leading to ocean freight rates having zoomed 5-7times within a span of 8-9 months.

China’s Ningbo Port being shut for 2 weeks is having a mixed impact on India trade, as the port blockage is hurting local electronics market at one end, while container shortage issue in the domestic market is getting addressed albeit for a short period.

“Some empty container vessels from China had to be diverted to India upon port closure and this has improved (empty) containers supply for the domestic market. Though this supply ease would last only for another three weeks, we (industry) are expecting at least 10 percent of the shortage to be addressed in this span,” Arun Garodia,