DHL Hong Kong Air Trade Leading Index (DTI)

DHL Hong Kong Air Trade Leading Index ("DTI") is a quarterly survey implemented by the Hong Kong Productivity Council ("HKPC"), and commissioned by DHL Express (Hong Kong) Limited ("DHL").

DTI is the first-of-its-kind in Hong Kong, offering publicly available market intelligence for local enterprises, especially SMEs which typically have limited resources or access to information, enabling all to take reference from a comprehensive business review of the sector in which they operate.

The Overall Index represents the air trade market outlook for the surveying quarter, in respect of import and (re-)export. The research also studies the underlying trends in business attributes, markets and air-freighted commodities, thus assisting local enterprises in arriving at a primed view of the business outlook of their markets.

DTI - First Quarter of 2021

Release Date: Jan 28, 2021

REPORT SUMMARY

Air traders remain cautiously optimistic on the outlook for 2021 Q1 amid improvement in the prospect over China-US relations and profitability in 2020 Q4 even though the COVID-19 pandemic is still rampant across the globe. The overall air trade index edged up 0.6 points to 31.8 points for 2021 Q1.

• A more optimistic outlook is prevalent among air traders, specifically regarding China-U.S. relations with the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election and the confirmation of Joe Biden as the next U.S. president.
• Americas and Asia Pacific saw improvements on air trade volume in Q1 2021 while Europe is the only region to have recorded a decline.
• The rampant nature of the pandemic across the world has posed unprecedented challenges on the business environment. To sustain the business during COVID-19, the most common measures adopted by Hong Kong air traders in the past 12 months were cost-cutting, capital injection and digitalisation.
• Two-third of the Hong Kong air traders agreed that it would be beneficial to their businesses if Hong Kong joins the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) as a member state in the future.

Mr Edmond Lai, Chief Digital Officer of the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), shared, “The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect people’s life and economy globally. However, the rolling out of vaccines in regions and the relatively more optimistic view towards the China-US relations have made the market more positive on air trade outlook for the start of 2021, ensuring the overall index to go up continuously. As continuous digital transformation becomes a key point for doing business, enterprises should prepare themselves and be agile to tackle business challenges and capture new opportunities on any likely recoveries in the economy. HKPC strives to provide local industries with all-round support, including remote business operations, epidemic prevention and funding schemes, to grasp the nettle together and develop new directions using new technologies.”

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Methodology

Index Calculation: Index = [100 x (Percentage of samples responding "Positive") ] + [50 x (Percentage of samples responding "Neutral") ] + [0 x (Percentage of samples responding "Negative") ]

Readings

• Ratios of collected responses are used to form the indices.
• An index value above 50 indicates an overall positive outlook while a reading below 50 represents an overall negative outlook for the surveyed quarter.
• The further the reading is from 50, the more positive or negative the outlook is.

Demographics

• Respondents are Hong Kong-based companies associated with either inbound or outbound air trade. It includes Watches, Clocks & Jewellery, Apparel & Clothing Accessories, Electronic Products & parts, Gifts, Toys & Houseware, Food & Beverage and Others (including courier service and other items which do not belong to the categories listed above).
• Over 600 samples are collected in each quarter.
• Sample companies are randomly selected from publicly available directories.

Disclaimer

This report contains survey result based on research findings.  HKPC will not be liable for any loss, mistake, delay, action or non-action by viewers of this report.

Enquiry

For more details about the Index, please contact HKPC at tel. (852) 2788 5306.