Hainan's January port throughput down 2pc to 8.73 million tonnesIN January, major ports in southern China's Hainan province lifted a total of 8.73 million tonnes of cargo, which fell two per cent year on year. 

The decrease was 26 percentage points down from the growth rate in the same month in 2012, according to Xinhua. 

These ports handled a total of 1.84 million tonnes of trade cargo, which increased 21.6 per cent and the growth was 0.6 percentage point faster year on year. Throughput of domestic trade cargo dropped 6.8 per cent to 6.89 million tonnes and the decrease was 32 percentage points down year on year. 

Throughput of coal and related commodities grew 5.1 per cent to 438,000 tonnes. Natural gas dropped 9.5 per cent to 1.27 million tonnes. Metal ores plunged 31.6 per cent to 438,000 tonnes. Steel increased 7.6 per cent to 344,000 tonnes. Construction materials climbed 23.1 per cent to 349,000 tonnes. Cement fell 30.7 per cent to 85,000 tonnes. Chemicals increased by 25.1 per cent to 394,000 tonnes.