Food, perishables and pharmaceuticals together account for more than one-fifth of global airfreight volumes, but the two segments tell very different commercial stories.
Presenting Aevean’s latest special cargo analysis at the IATA World Cargo Symposium, Maarten Wormer, the consultancy’s head of consulting, said food and perishables represent 17% of global air trade by weight, yet only 1% by value. The segment also carries a yield premium of minus 38%, underlining its volume importance but lower commercial return.
Even so, Wormer described perishables as a highly resilient air cargo vertical. Global volumes in the segment were essentially flat in 2025, with only a 0.1% year-on-year decline, but the sector’s share of world air trade has remained remarkably stable between 2019 and 2025, generally fluctuating between 17% and 19%.
Regional dynamics, however, varied sharply. The Asia-Europe lane recorded 14% growth, while Latin America continued to play a central role in perishables exports. Volumes from Latin America to North America slipped by 1%, but the Latin America-Europe lane grew by 10%, with further upside expected from the Mercosur trade agreement. Africa-Europe traffic also rose by 5%, supported by demand for fresh vegetables and cut flowers.
Wormer said Latin America to North America remains the world’s largest perishables trade lane by air, although intra-Asia has now reached a similar scale. Latin America remains the leading exporting region overall, shipping 1.3m tonnes of perishables by air last year, mainly flowers, fruits and vegetables. That represents 26% of total global perishables airfreight volumes. The region has also become the dominant source of flower exports, with six out of every 10 flowers moved by air now originating there.
On the pharma side, the economics look very different. Healthcare and pharmaceutical products account for just 4% of global air cargo weight, but 11% of total value, with a yield premium of 39%. Volumes grew a modest 2% in 2025, yet value remains strong due to the continued shift toward higher-value and more specialized products.
Latin America again played a major role, contributing 23% growth in healthcare and pharma volumes while other origins remained largely flat. Demand has increasingly been driven by medical devices, aids and supplies, as well as a move toward biologics, reagents and other high-value pharmaceutical categories.
Wormer noted that pharmaceuticals and biologics, along with reagents, both declined in weight by 3%, but still rose in value by 4% and 8% respectively. That, he said, confirms the market’s move toward more specialized medicines. He also highlighted Switzerland’s growing market share in biologics and India’s continued expansion in vaccine exports.
Tariffs were another factor behind supply chain shifts in 2025. To avoid added costs, companies adjusted sourcing patterns, helping push pharmaceutical air exports from the Dominican Republic to the US up by 267% year on year, while China-US pharma exports fell by 12%.
