The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dropped on Monday, as weaker rates for the larger capesize segment offset gains in panamax and supramax vessel rates. The Baltic dry index, tracking rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 14 points, or 0.8%, to an over one-week low of 1,740. The capesize index retreated 54 points, or about 1.9%, to 2,839. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $448 to $23,541. The panamax index gained ...

Seaborne iron ore trade continued to be dominated by China, even more so, during the pandemic. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “seaborne iron ore trade remained relatively resilient in 2020, at least in Asia, despite the global economic impact from COVID-19. Global iron ore imports in 2020 increased by a marginal +0.2% y-o-y to 1514 mln tonnes, according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv. That said, there has been a sharp polarisation between China and pretty much the rest of the world. In the 12 ...

The Chinese government has rejected pleas from its own steel industry to lift bans on Australian coal cargoes, keeping dozens of ships holding 8 million tonnes of the commodity stranded at sea. More than 70 vessels carrying Australian coal have been unable to unload in China since October, coinciding with a souring of diplomatic and trade tensions between Canberra and Beijing. Australian miners had hoped the restrictions may have eased from January 1 when China reset its unofficial import quotas but analysts and industry leaders on Thursday warned China appeared ...

Monthly iron ore shipment schedules will not be impacted as a result of a fire that broke out early on Jan. 14 at a shiploader at Vale’s main iron ore export terminal in northeast Brazil, the miner said Jan. 15. The Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís, Maranhão in northeast Brazil, continues to operate, the company said. The terminal exports ore from Vale’s high-grade Carajas mine and pellets. The incident at one of Vale’s shiploaders at the terminal “was contained without victims or environmental damage,” the company said ...

China’s soybean imports jumped 13% to an annual record in 2020, customs data showed, after crushers ramped up purchases amid improved margins and healthy demand from the country’s rapidly recovering pig sector. China, the world’s top soybean buyer, bought 100.33 million tonnes of the oilseed in 2020, up from 88.51 million tonnes in 2019, according to the General Administration of Customs. For December alone imports came in at 7.524 million tonnes, down 27% from 9.54 million tonnes a year ago and down also from November’s 9.59 million tonnes. “December soy ...

Normally, China does not import coal from South Africa, but 2021 has seen a shift. Shipments to mainland China were reported on Monday by the African Source Markets’ Weekly Coal Index Report. “It could be a game-changer but we shouldn’t be too complacent,” African Source Markets CEO Bevan Jones said in response to Mining Weekly on Wednesday. China’s power plants have been permitted to import coal from several countries without clearance restrictions, The Global Times of China has reported. This has resulted in 2021 starting on a bullish note for ...

Dry bulk equities (aggregate seven stocks under our coverage) posted 21% negative returns during the full year 2020. However, since the beginning of 2021, these stocks have registered a gain of 15.7% so far (as of 12 January 2021). Going forward, the stocks are expected to consolidate because the post-COVID-19 economic recovery in China has boosted the prices of many commodities from their lows in 2Q20. One of the biggest drivers of this recovery has been rally in iron ore prices on the back of the Chinese stimulus package, which ...

Capesize The Capesize market surged this past week to a three month high, as a stronger outlook for the market took hold. Opening the second full week of the year at $21,131 the Capesize 5TC peaked mid-week at $26,489, before closing down to end the week at $23,989. Charterers managed to take back a little influence dipping the index. But fixture activity was certainly weaker at weeks end. The Transpacific C10 settled the week at $21,667, with the West Australia to China C5 dropping -.522 on Friday to $8.814. For ...

India’s wheat exports are likely to treble in the current financial year, thanks to surging international prices and ultra-low interest rate money increasingly finding its way into agri-commodity markets. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday upped its forecast of Indian wheat exports for 2020-21 (July-June) to 18 lakh tonnes (mt), as against its earlier estimate of one lakh tonnes, the highest ever in the last six years, the Indian Express reported. India’s wheat export last fiscal was at 5.95 lakh tonnes. With the Russia government levying a 25 ...

There is both a history lesson and a warning in the latest Chinese data on imports of major commodities. The history part is that China bought record volumes of crude oil, copper, iron ore and coal in 2020, showing just how vital the world’s biggest buyer of natural resources was in keeping commodity market buoyant in a year when the global coronavirus pandemic threatened to crush demand. The warning part is that the trade data for the month of December, released on Thursday, shows that China’s massive buying spree appears ...

Capesize freight rates hit a three-month high in January defying historical weak seasonality trends as supply bottlenecks caused by adverse weather at the Chinese coast and high commodity prices continued to drive demand for tonnage. S&P Global Cape T4 index for non-scrubber ships touched a 90-day high at $23,908/day on Jan. 12, in contrast to the past, where Q1 mostly remained a seasonally low period for the Capesize market. Also, Cape T4 index year-to-date this year has seen a multi-year high for January despite poor weather affecting iron ore shipments ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index retreated on Friday, but still notched up an over 9% weekly rise driven by strong overall gains in the capesize segment. The Baltic dry index, tracking rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, shed 38 points, or 2.1%, to 1,754, but firmed 9.2% this week. The main index has gained for seven out of the last eight weeks. The capesize index dropped 119 points, or about 4%, to 2,893, but was up 13.5% for the week. The index rose ...

While Australian coal remains off limits in China, the trade tensions have barely dented overall export figures from Australia’s largest coal terminal, with producers finding other international markets. China usually accounts for 20 per cent of exports from the Port of Newcastle, and when coal ships stopped leaving for China in November, it raised the prospect of a shortfall in demand. Yet, overall export figures for December show only a 3 per cent decline on the previous year. A total of 14.9 million tonnes of coal were exported from the ...

About 600 000 t to 700 000 t of South African coal have already moved to China since the Asian giant ceased accepting coal from Australia and more South African coal sales to China are expected “for sure”, a top trader said in an interview with Mining Weekly. China’s power plants have been permitted to import coal from several countries without clearance restrictions, The Global Times of China has reported, which has resulted in 2021 starting on a bullish note for South African coal. “South Africa is already benefiting from ...

China’s imports of most major commodities eased in December from the previous month, customs data showed on Thursday, but coal imports soared. KEY POINTS: *Crude oil: Imports of 38.47 mln T vs 45.36 mln T in November *Iron ore: Imports of 96.75 mln T vs 98.15 mln T in November *Soybeans: Imports of 7.52 mln T vs 9.59 mln T in November *Copper: Imports of 512,332 T vs 561,311 T in November *Coal: Imports of 39.08 mln T vs 11.67 mln T in November Preliminary table of commodity trade data ...