Air freight prices continue to trend lower according to data from the price reporting agency (PRA) for air freight, the TAC index.

In its April 26 report, TAC Index said the overall Baltic Air Freight Index BAI00 slipped another -4.0% in the week to April 24, putting it lower by -45.1% over 12 months amid continuing concerns about weak demand and rising capacity.

Data presented by Accenture to the IATA Air Cargo Symposium in Istanbul highlighted a 29% fall in demand in pharma freight alone during a period when belly hold capacity had revived post-Covid by some 26% in the year to end-March.

 
"Prices fell from all major outbound locations, with Shanghai BAI80 dipping another -2.2% week-on-week (WoW) to put it lower by -50.6% year-on-year (YoY)," the report said.

It added that Hong Kong BAI30 was also down -1.7% WoW to go to -45.4% YoY — though sources said: "rates typically do fall in this period of the year and were being held up by some strong e-commerce activity, despite pressures to keep costs down."

Steep rate decline in Frankfurt, London

 
Meanwhile, TAC Index noted that WoW falls were "steeper elsewhere," with Frankfurt BAI20 down -4.1%, London BAI40 down -11.6% — reversing a sharp rise the previous week, and Chicago BAI50 down -6.9%.

It added that among the few locations bucking the downward trend was Vietnam, where outbound rates were rising both to Europe and to the US, by +3.8% and +9.9% respectively, though both were still down more than -65% YoY.