UNITED KINGDOM May 10 2016 2:35 PM    

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main  sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities  fell further to 615 points on Monday due to lower cape, panamax and supremax  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, down by another  15 point to 616 points on Monday.

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.

Since the BDI has staged a  significant recovery. Factors that have been driving the gains include the  belief that the sell-off was overdone, an increase in demand, and a decrease in  ship supply due to some ship scrapping.