China December rail freight volume falls for first time in 18 months

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s rail freight volume in December fell year on year for the first time in 18 months and road transportation grew at its slowest pace in a year, official data showed on Wednesday.

The slowdown came as the government launched an extensive crackdown on factories, curbing operating rates of heavy industry like steel and aluminum, as part of its war on smog. December was the first full month of the measures, which came into effect in mid-November.

Rail freight volumes fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 303.87 million tonnes, the lowest since June 2017 and marking the first decline since July 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Road freight, China’s most popular form of transportation, grew by 5.6 percent to 3.3 billion tonnes, its lowest growth rate since January 2017.

For 2017, cargo carried by rail rose 10.7 percent from a year earlier to 3.69 billion tonnes following a 0.8 percent decline in 2016. Full-year road freight rose 10.1 percent to 36.8 billion tonnes.

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