After the industry got its hopes in July, air cargo has come crashing back down to earth with a weak month in August, reports WorldACD.

Total chargeable weight was down 7.1% year-on-year in August and yields by 9.4% in US dollars, pushing down revenue by almost 16%.

General cargo was down 10.3% though special cargo was up 0.7% year-on-year. High-tech and vulnerable goods increased 4.4% and pharma and temperature controlled by 5.2%.

Perishables grew by 1.3% with fish and seafood performing well at 5.4%, but meat fell by 8%.

On a year-to-date basis between January and August, air cargo was almost down almost 5% and yields by 7.1% for general cargo.

Special cargo yields also fell 3.8% with flowers being the only category to register an improvement, up 1%.

Asia Pacific was the main regional victim, particularly for markets within the area and on the flow USA to China and Hong Kong.

Origin China is doing better, to destinations outside the Asia Pacific region, exports grew by 0.2%.

WorldACD says though it has been reported that China’s neighbours have benefitted from the US-China trade war, some countries are doing better than others.

In the three months between June and August, Chinese exports to the US lost 18% of revenue and Asia Pacific had a combined fall of 16%.

Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea each lost around 25% but Vietnam and Taiwan were up 4% and 15% respectively.

From the US to Asia Pacific, China was down 18.5%, Hong Kong by 20%, South Korea by 24%, Japan by 7%, Taiwan by 10.5% but Vietnam was up 9.5%.