Is the recent improvement in the global economy sustainable?
Has the global economy turned the corner? Data presented in Ti's latest Global Logistics Monitor suggests it might have. Manufacturing activity appears to be picking up throughout Asia, Germany and the US and even demand for airfreight may finally be improving. Still, it is too early to tell, particularly as it is always difficult to compare year-over-year data for the months of January and February because of the lunar Chinese New Year holiday. However, while China's manufacturing activity stumbled a bit for February, as noted by the China Customs Administration, its exports for the first two months of 2013 grew 24%, while imports grew 5%. The EU, US and the ASEAN countries were China's top trading partners. Exports to the EU increased nearly 3.2%, while exports to the US and the ASEAN countries grew by 14.8% and 22% respectively. Most notably, exports of high-tech products grew 26.2% year-on-year. Even in the midst of Europe's economic squalor, Germany ap