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U.S. Farmers can't find a way to ship their stuff
- jt2190 5y ago> Thanks to soaring demand in [the United States], cargo ships can charge more than seven times as much to bring a container from Asia to the U.S. as they can for the return trip. According to S&P Global Platts, that price difference has widened sharply since the pandemic. > As a result, it's often more lucrative for shipping companies to race back to Asia with empty containers for a quick refill, rather than wait for those containers to be loaded with [U.S] exports. > Agricultural exports are typically less valuable than what importers are bringing in.
- Arnt 5y agoSo, if "cargo ships can charge more than seven times as much to bring a container from Asia to the U.S. as they can for the return trip", how long is waiting worth it? The answer should be one-seventh of the transit time, right? That is, if the detour to fill container with grain or rapeseed oil bottles adds more than 20% before it arrives back in China ready to be filled with factory goods, then it's a loss. That'll be only a few days. Quite a harsh time constraint. I feel sorry for those farmers.
- a3n 5y agoThis could be an opportunity to build containers in the Midwest, ship ag in them, and negotiate free shipping paid for by releasing or renting the container.