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Belgian Movers Face Price Hikes
Costs are set to rise for the Belgian moving sector this year as increases in operational costs are set to feed into general prices.
That’s according to the Director of the Belgian Chamber of Movers (BKV) Koen Vangoidsenhoven as he advised moving companies to adjust their rates and contracts.
BKV’s study concludes that the sector is facing increased costs in four key areas
- Labour up by 3.8%
- Fuel costs up by 11.7%
- General operating costs up by 3.2%.
- The health index has a broader impact on the sector, affecting around 20% of totalexpenses across various cost components.
The total cost, calculated using a weighted average formula, resulted in a minimum rise of 5.7%.
Koen said that moving companies must incorporate these hikes for their rates during the year:
“As the representative of the Belgian Chamber of Movers, I advocate for transparency and collaboration within the sector to tackle these challenges collectively,” said Koen.
“Our analysis provides a solid foundation for policy-making and pricing strategies in 2025.”
Ireland Least Impacted by Freight Hikes
New research has indicated that Ireland is one of the least impacted countries as surges in freight rates among global exporters feeds into costs of sales.
The researchers from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture found that the cost of freight rates fed into the price of beef for exporting nations.
The top beef exporters are as follows:
Australia 13.4% The United States 11.8% Brazil 11.0%
While Ireland’s share of global beef trade has fallen from 7.8% in 2010 to 4.6% - a 7% drop – in 2023 it is nowhere near the 20% decline experienced by countries such as Argentina, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay due to a doubling of freight rates. Brazil’s emergence as the leading beef supplier from 5% of global trade in 2010 to 17% in 2023 is largely due to rising imports and growing demand from China.
One reason for the modest decline is that the vast majority – almost half – of Ireland’s exports were to the United Kingdom in 2022 with countries such as Australia and Brazil having to travel much further to places like China or Japan leading to higher shipping costs.
Trump Suspends Tariffs
President Donald Trump has suspended higher tariffs on several countries for 90 days as he promised to do more to combat alleged harmful trade practices by China.
With the suspension most countries will face the flatline 10% tariff offering relief to trade surplus countries and trading blocs such as the European Union (EU) which faced a 20% levy on imports.
However, posting on his alternative social media site Truth Social, Trump said China would face tariffs of 125% due to the “lack of respect that China has shown to the world’s markets.”
As part of the tit for tat economic dispute, China similarly imposed tariffs of up to 84% on imports from the US as it maintained that it is following World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and procedures and opposes unilateral trade levies.
Stock market’s skyrocketed following the announcement reversing four days of losses with the S&P 500 index up 7%- its largest single gain in five years.
While the President asserted the move was to reward countries who sought to negotiate the initial tariff hike he also pointed to bond sales that fed into higher yields for the decision.
“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But if you look at it now it’s beautiful… I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” he told reporters.
While initially there was a flight of investors holding onto safe US treasuries amid the market volatility which would offset any economic pain from the tariffs this seemed to wane as the dollar’s value receded. Bond yields and prices have an inverse relationship meaning yields rise when their price falls.
The 10 year yield rose by close to 5%before the suspension on tariffs.
According to The Wall Street Journal yields were up about a quarter-percentage point since April 2, when Trump first announced his latest and most wide-ranging tariffs defying the norm of stock market volatility strengthening the dollar.
It is unclear what led to the selloff in bonds with some financial analysts blaming the Japanese, the largest holder of US debt.
Consumers would be impacted by rising yields as this feeds into higher cost of interest and borrowing and lessens the value of other investments including deposits or savings accounts.
