Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange ends 5 weeks of consecutive rise

UNITED KINGDOM March 17 2016 6:14 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities has ended five weeks of consecutive rise as analyst sees no real recovery until the year 2018.

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, down by 3 points to 393 points on Tuesday.

The BDI held up better in that market than it is now, as demand from China for raw materials as the country embarked upon some strategic stockpiling buoyed the index even as equities around the globe collapsed.

The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on February 10 2016, when the index plummeted to 290 points.