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.