Supply Chain Research

Containerized freight passing through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma fell by 7.2% year over year in October. The port authority has blamed the “impact of the ongoing trade war with international imports contributing to most of the decline”. Imports fell by 15.4%, the fastest rate since Jan. 2016, though exports also slid by 4.0%. A brighter spot came from “strong demand for U.S. agricultural products in established and emerging markets in Asia outside China”. There was also evidence of a surge in agricultural exports to China in October, with a 34.0% year over year improvement. That was...