Capesize The Capesize market was buoyant in both basins this week, posting gains across the board. After bottoming out the previous week, rates were seen to quickly rise. This was helped along the way by typhoon Lekima off the eastern coast of China and a tightening vessel situation in the Atlantic. The Capesize 5TC opened the week at $24,022 to close at $29,624. In the Pacific, most major charterers were present at some stage of the week, but struggled to get repeat trades at last done levels. In the Atlantic, ...

Today, Friday, August 16 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 41 points, reaching 2088 points.

Today, Thursday, August 15 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 97 points, reaching 2047 points.

The trade war has brought increased attention to the soya bean trade between the US and China with 2019 offering conflicting narratives. On one hand, soya bean exports to China in the first six months of 2019 are up 10.9% compared with the first half of 2018, while on the other, exports to China in the 2018/2019 marketing year are down 68.7%. With the 2019/2020 marketing year now just round the corner, this trade is unlikely to return to pre-trade war levels. The combined effects of a worsening relationship between ...

Today, Wednesday, August 14 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 86 points, reaching 1950 points.

Today, Tuesday, August 13 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 90 points, reaching 1864 points.

American soybeans, the humble legumes that have become prominent pawns in the U.S.-China trade war, are drying up in more ways than one. China, the world’s biggest soy importer, just announced purchases in July jumped to the highest in almost a year. But it’s Brazil that’s satisfying the demand and its stockpiles are dwindling. Losing market share are U.S. farmers who are amplifying their discontent to the Trump administration. Adding to the stress in the Midwest is a stretch of dry summer weather that’s making this year’s crop look worse ...

Today, Monday, August 12 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 26 points, reaching 1774 points.

China’s coastal bulk freight market saw an overall decline in demand in July, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. The composite index for coastal bulk freight dropped 6 percent month on month to 977.26 in July, the SSE said. The index had averaged 1,021.01 since the beginning of 2019, down from an average of 1,149.05 for 2018. Last month, the sub-index for coal saw the largest fall of 7.8 percent, followed by grain and metal ore. Against the downward trend, the sub-index for oil products grew 0.9 percent in July. ...

The country’s coal imports increased by 28.7 per cent to 24.14 million tonnes in June on the back of softening of non-coking coal prices in the international markets. The country had imported 18.75 million tonnes of coal in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, according to a provisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoring of vessels’ positions and data received from shipping companies. Mjunction — a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL — is a B2B e-commerce company and also publishes research reports on coal and steel ...

Capesize With typhoon Lekima gathering pace, numerous China ports were closed by the end of the week and will likely be for two to three days. In addition to this, the national holiday in Singapore gave a weaker trend to the rates, which all lost value during most of the week before bouncing back up a bit on Friday. By week’s end, the West Australia to China route was being rated around the $9.25 level, as rumours flowed this level had been fixed for end August dates. Brazil to China ...

Forget the drop in the dollar value of China’s imports in July, the important numbers were the bumper purchases of major commodities including crude oil, coal, iron ore and copper. The 5.6% drop in the dollar value of July imports is almost irrelevant and most likely a reflection of lower commodity prices rather than any weakness in the Chinese economy. What is worth looking at is the 21% month-on-month jump in iron ore imports to 91.02 million tonnes in July, the highest since January. Or how about the 21% rise ...

China’s commodity importers are changing tack after this week’s yuan devaluation sent shockwaves through global financial markets, with companies already reeling from the tariff dispute with the US now deferring purchases as dollar-denominated trades become more expensive. Crude oil, iron ore, coal, natural gas and agricultural products like soybeans –which rely heavily on Chinese demand — have been impacted in various ways. Some Shandong-based independent refineries have held back from buying crude cargoes for October and early November delivery after China allowed the yuan to breach the 7 per US ...

Russian wheat may be about to crack yet another market. Saudi Arabia’s grains agency will relax rules for bug damage in wheat imports starting with its next tender, according to Governor Ahmad Al-Fares. That will allow more nations, including Black Sea suppliers, to participate, he said. The move opens the door for Russia, the biggest wheat shipper, to break into the Saudi market after more than a year of talks. It could be bad news for European Union nations such as Germany, which currently dominate sales to the kingdom. Saudi ...

While the dry bulk market has managed to recover over the past couple of months and net fleet growth remains moderate, ship owners will have to be wary ahead of a trade war, which means that more demolitions could be in order, in order to alleviate tonnage supply. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “demolition activity in the dry bulk sector had seen considerable increases since 2016, allowing us to even see a peak of as many as 60 units being recycled in a single month. ...