Mumbai, Feb. 2: Will 2009 be remembered as the year the fulcrum of world economic power shifted decisively?
It is not just about the recession in the US and growth in Asia Pacific any longer. Neither is it about the bulging forex reserves of Asian exporters. In 2009, China crossed the US as the world’s largest car market.
Now International Air Transport Association, an industry body of airlines, says that in 2009, Asia-Pacific has surpassed North America as the world’s largest aviation market. Unlike other examples of China’s manufacturing prowess, these are based on spending by China’s domestic consumers. On other fronts, such as green energy too, China has emerged as the leader, in manufacture at least.
In its statement, IATA has said that the total passenger traffic in 2009 for Asia Pacific added up to 647 million, against 638 million for North America.
The change in the pecking order, like so many other things, was hastened by the recession. IATA has termed 2009 as the worst year in history for aviation — passenger traffic worldwide was down 3.5 per cent while air freight came down almost 10 per cent. China now accounts for a bulk of the traffic in the Asia-Pacific region. It had surpassed Japan as the largest aviation market in this region some years back.
In January this year, statistics showed that China had surpassed US as the world’s largest automobile market. A total of 13 million cars and light trucks were sold in China in the year 2009 — versus about 10.4 million sold in the US. Auto sales in the US had plunged 28 per cent during 2009 while in China, they registered an increase of 48 per cent. China also seems to be leading the clean energy race, at least in numbers, if not technology. In 2009, China surpassed the US, Denmark, Germany and Spain to become the largest manufacturer of wind turbines, according to a recent news report. The Asian giant is now also the world’s largest maker of solar panels. Sun and wind energy are the big hope to wean the world economy from dirty fuels such as coal and oil.
AGE Correspondent