WHILE major companies have recently signalled a cut in orders for the second half of the year, a weak summer air freight market picked up in August, leading to some optimism for a peak season, reports London's The Loadstar.
Big retailers, including Walmart and Target which had brought forward orders, are now looking at discounting stocks and cancelling further orders, while Newell Brands, distributor of major brands, including Sharpies, Yankee Candle, Parker and Rubbermaid, said retailers were reducing orders, following the previous trend to bulk up inventories, according to the WSJ.
Primark, part of Associated British Foods, confirmed in a pre-full year results trading update that it had advanced its inventory purchases this year, following supply chain challenges.
The company said it had seen working capital increase by some GBP750 million (US$865 million), reflecting 'inflation, and the timing of receipt of Primark autumn/winter inventory around the year-end dates, which contributed some GBP440 million of the increase; the late arrival of inventory at the end of last year as a result of supply chain difficulties contributed some GBP200 million of the increase and the planned earlier-than-usual arrival of inventory this financial year-end contributed a further GBP240 million'.
It added: 'Our expectation is that net cash before lease liabilities will be some GBP1.5 billion at the year end and would have been GBP1.7 billion had we not chosen to advance the Primark inventory purchase this year-end. This compares with GBP1.9 billion at the end of the last financial year.'
The clothing retailer said it would not raise prices in a bid to retain customers, despite higher costs resulting from supply chain disruption, inflation, and rising energy and labour costs.
Meanwhile, Samsung said it expected to see a continuation of the downturn in chip sales. Kyung Kye-hyun, Samsung's co-CEO told media: 'The second half of this year looks bad and, as of now, next year doesn't really seem to show a clear momentum for much improvement.'
While this could all bode badly for the transport industry's second half; air cargo data has revealed some signs of improvement.
Xeneta's Clive Data Services said the slowdown in demand had eased off despite August traditionally being the weakest month. June and July saw year-on-year falls in demand of 8 per cent and 9 per cent but in August, this tailed off to 5 per cent.
While capacity has recovered over the summer, as passengers headed abroad again, airlines are looking to reduce flight schedules as economies slow down. Jet fuel prices are also nearly 10 per cent lower than a month ago, and spot prices are also at their lowest point since September last year, boosting demand.
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Big retailers, including Walmart and Target which had brought forward orders, are now looking at discounting stocks and cancelling further orders, while Newell Brands, distributor of major brands, including Sharpies, Yankee Candle, Parker and Rubbermaid, said retailers were reducing orders, following the previous trend to bulk up inventories, according to the WSJ.
Primark, part of Associated British Foods, confirmed in a pre-full year results trading update that it had advanced its inventory purchases this year, following supply chain challenges.
The company said it had seen working capital increase by some GBP750 million (US$865 million), reflecting 'inflation, and the timing of receipt of Primark autumn/winter inventory around the year-end dates, which contributed some GBP440 million of the increase; the late arrival of inventory at the end of last year as a result of supply chain difficulties contributed some GBP200 million of the increase and the planned earlier-than-usual arrival of inventory this financial year-end contributed a further GBP240 million'.
It added: 'Our expectation is that net cash before lease liabilities will be some GBP1.5 billion at the year end and would have been GBP1.7 billion had we not chosen to advance the Primark inventory purchase this year-end. This compares with GBP1.9 billion at the end of the last financial year.'
The clothing retailer said it would not raise prices in a bid to retain customers, despite higher costs resulting from supply chain disruption, inflation, and rising energy and labour costs.
Meanwhile, Samsung said it expected to see a continuation of the downturn in chip sales. Kyung Kye-hyun, Samsung's co-CEO told media: 'The second half of this year looks bad and, as of now, next year doesn't really seem to show a clear momentum for much improvement.'
While this could all bode badly for the transport industry's second half; air cargo data has revealed some signs of improvement.
Xeneta's Clive Data Services said the slowdown in demand had eased off despite August traditionally being the weakest month. June and July saw year-on-year falls in demand of 8 per cent and 9 per cent but in August, this tailed off to 5 per cent.
While capacity has recovered over the summer, as passengers headed abroad again, airlines are looking to reduce flight schedules as economies slow down. Jet fuel prices are also nearly 10 per cent lower than a month ago, and spot prices are also at their lowest point since September last year, boosting demand.
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