UNITED KINGDOM April 21 2016 2:35 PM
LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities has ended more than a month of consecutive rise on Wednesday.
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 2 point to 669 points on Wednesday, a decline first time since March 16.
However, steel prices are also firming up due to improvement in the Chinese economy. There is also good demand for Capesize and Panamax vessels, which is adding to the feelgood factor. Scrapping and mothballing of vessels also helped in increasing demand.
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.