UNITED KINGDOM March 02 2017 1:39 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities advanced to 871 points on Wednesday thanks to higher panamax and supramax and index.

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, gained by 12 points to 871 points on Wednesday.

China’s infrastructure spending should support iron ore and metallurgical coal demand through at least the first part of the year, and then, China’s forced production cutbacks on industries that are heavy polluters could increase demand for imported raw materials.

Meanwhile, right now seaborne grain trade is high, providing another supportive factor to the BDI.