UNITED KINGDOM May 25 2017 2:16 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities declined further to 934 points on Wednesday led by lower 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, declined by another 15 point to 934 points on Wednesday.

The Baltic Dry Index’s fragile recovery from its all-time low reached in February 2016 has been based mostly on increasing demand for raw materials while a small reduction in ship supply has also contributed. 

Since March, the BDI has been trending down, pressured by the expectation that demand to ship goods will soon wane.