Lufthansa said it expects continued strong growth in the global air cargo market over coming years.

The global market was set to grow by an average of six percent annually over the next five years, helped by strong gains in Asia.

Lufthansa Cargo, the world's second-largest cargo airline after Air France-KLM, was keen to exceed that growth rate, as it had already done this year, its head of marketing, Andreas Otto, said late on Tuesday.

"However, the priority for us isn't market share, but profitable growth," he told reporters.

Otto also said that Lufthansa Cargo had in November cut its fuel surcharge for the second time in two months by five euro cents to now 0.50 euros per kilogramme of freight.