A lingering sign of the pandemic’s economic aftermath is that California’s export trade through the first half of this year trailed its total export trade through the first half of 2019 by 0.8 percent, according to Beacon Economics’ analysis of U.S. trade statistics recently released by the Census Bureau’s foreign trade division. However, California’s manufactured exports were up 5.2 percent in June, while shipments abroad of non-manufactured goods (chiefly agricultural products and raw materials) jumped by 22.9 percent. Meanwhile, the state’s trade in re-exports edged up by 3.6 percent.

One big factor that is holding back a more robust exports recovery may be logistical. Exporters, especially shippers of agricultural commodities, have been complaining since late last year that shipping lines have been rebuffing outbound cargos in favor of expediting the return of empty shipping containers to Asia. Steamship lines say this is merely a response to market conditions being defined largely by U.S. consumers.

But with American demand for Asian imported goods at peak levels, eastbound transpacific shipping rates have skyrocketed, creating a strong incentive for ocean carriers to refresh Asia’s supply of empty shipping containers, says the report.