MNI BRIEF: US 2020 Retail Imports Set to Break Record

U.S. retail imports in 2020 are projected to hit a new all-time high and expected to hold strong into early 2021 as fiscal aid buoys spending and consumers continue to shift spending to goods from services in the coronavirus pandemic, the National Retail Federation said Friday.

U.S. ports handled 2.11 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units in November, the most recent month for which data is available, according to the NRF's Global Port Tracker, which provides data on a number of U.S. ports on the West and East Coasts as well as the Gulf Coast. That's down 4.9% from October's record-setting 2.21 million TEU, but up 24.5% from a year earlier.

December is projected to hit 2.02 million TEU and January is expected at 1.96 million TEU, the NRF said. If December's forecast is actualized, 2020 will have ended with a total of 21.9 million TEU, up 1.5% from 2019 and breaking the previous annual record set in 2018 of 21.8 million TEU.

"Thanks in part to government stimulus, retail sales saw strong growth during 2020 even with the pandemic, and import numbers show retailers expect the economic recovery will continue during 2021," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement.