China’s port cargo throughput up 6% YoY in Q3

It was driven by a rise in shipments to the EU, ASEAN, and Africa.

China’s port cargo throughput grew by 6% year over year (YoY) in the third quarter of 2025, according to Fitch Ratings.

This growth was driven by a rise in shipments to the EU, ASEAN, and Africa, which compensated for subdued flows to the US.

Meanwhile, exports rose by 6.5% YoY, slightly higher than the 6% recorded in Q2. However, shipments to the US saw a steep decline of 27.3% YoY, but were outweighed by robust demand from the ASEAN, Africa, EU, and Latin American (LatAm) markets.

Fitch anticipates the slowdown in US-bound exports could moderate in the fourth quarter due to a recent agreement for a one-year pause in trade tensions.

Moreover, container rates dropped sharply during the period as the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index fell by 52% YoY, and China’s was down by 39% YoY.

This was attributed to vessel oversupply and weak demand for US-bound shipments, as capacity redeployments have not yet absorbed the excess tonnage.

Fitch maintains that the one-year China-US agreement on tariffs alleviates immediate pressure and could support throughput flows through 2026.