Africa grows as freight market shows signs of weakness

The growth is slower than the average of 4.5% recorded for 2014 -but the African freight market outperformed the global average.
African airlines grew cargo volumes 5.2%. While major economies such as Nigeria and South Africa are under-performing, regional trade activity was shown to be holding up. Capacity rose just 2.4%, strengthening the load factor.
There was much regional variation in the January performance. Asia-Pacific, African and Middle Eastern airlines expanded strongly, but airlines in Europe and North and Latin America all reported demand contractions. IATA said although it is too early to be certain of a trend towards weaker air freight, there are at least two emerging factors which could negatively impact demand for air cargo in the coming months:
• Business confidence has been declining since mid-2014 and export orders tailed-off towards the end of the year
• A reversal of the positive trade-to-domestic production ratio which boosted cargo volumes last year
“January was a disappointing start to the year for air cargo. And it is difficult to be too optimistic about the rest of the year given the economic headwinds in Europe and growing concerns over the Chinese economy. Add to that the continuing trends of on-shoring production and trade protectionism and 2015 is shaping up to be another tough year for air cargo,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.