UNITED KINGDOM May 16 2017 2:29 PM
LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities fell to below 1,000 points on Monday driven by lower cape, panamax and supramax 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, dropped by another 20 points to 994 points on Monday.
The Baltic Dry Index’s recent price movement suggests that the spring rally has finished and for the coming months value changes will likely be modest with a downside bias. High port stocks of raw materials in China mean that we are likely to see lower demand for seaborne transport of goods.
After soaring in the early spring and then correcting, the BDI was little changed last week, posting only small daily changes. Monday’s 20 point movement was the BDI’s largest daily price change since May 4 when it moved by 30 points. Right now, the BDI is finding it hard to move with conviction away from 1000 points.
