Recent Trends and Prospective Developments in Air Shipments of Agricultural Commodities

Excerpts from the report: World air freight traffic has grown sensationally, increasing more than 32 times since 1946 and more than 4 times in the past 10 years. Shippers are now spending more than $700 million yearly to send their goods by air. The volume of agricultural commodities shipped by air is still a very small part of total air shipments, but it is growing. A recent survey by some of the major airlines shows that the volume of fresh fruits and vegetables shipped by air during July-June 1964-65 was between 4 and 5 times that during 1961. These airlines expect a similar increase by 1970. Cut flowers move in large quantities by air, making up two-fifths of the total volume of agricultural products carried by these airlines. One of the major airlines reported cut flowers as the sixth most important item it carried and fruits and vegetables as the seventh. Other horticultural products such as shrubbery, plants, ornamental greens, etc. are also moving in fairly large quantities as are poultry and eggs and miscellaneous foodstuffs. Shipments of agricultural commodities no longer move by air only when the commodity is in short supply. During the 1965 season, the airlines transported more than 1,100 carlot equivalents of strawberries out of California, almost 50 percent more than in 1964, and about 180 carlot equivalents of other fruits and vegetables. Commodities hauled by airlines included fresh figs, cherries, peaches, cantaloupes, apricots, nectarines, plums, grapes, raspberries, asparagus, lettuce, parsley, okra, tomatoes, frozen foods, poultry, eggs, meats, seafoods, and oriental vegetables.