Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange remains steady at 870 points

UNITED KINGDOM June 14 2017 2:38 PM
LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities remained steady at 870 points on Tuesday driven by lower cape, panamax and supramax rates.

The Baltic Dry Index, which provides an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials – such as coal, iron ore and grain – by sea by taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a time charter basis, stayed flat at 870 points on Tuesday.

While shipping cargoes could thin during the summer, fall demand for grains and certain raw materials that the country will produce less of to combat pollution could bolster seaborne trade. When it comes to the seaborne trade of raw materials, China is the world’s most significant market.

Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on Wednesday the 10th of February 2016, when the index dropped to 290 points.