If ever there was a leading indicator to the commodity index this year, it is the Panamax freight market. Already coming under heavy pressure in the last quarter of 2019 these mid-sized workhorses of the dry bulk market started 2020 on the same bearish footing; this before COVID-19 had reared its unwelcome head. Nothing really equals freight volatility when it gets going, so to freight traders a 28% drop in the Bloomberg Commodity Index is akin to an afternoon’s work for a busy FFA trader. As bleak as the world ...

Iron ore remains one of the bright spots for the resources industry, with prices remaining well above the $US80 ($130.58) per tonne mark for most of this year despite the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China. And it has been tipped to remain well supported in the current quarter with about 38 per cent of the respondents to S&P Global Platts’ latest outlook survey expecting iron ore prices to remain in the current $US80 to $US90 range, while 28 per cent expected it to fall to the $US70 ...

Brazilian mills are turning to wheat suppliers outside of Argentina as they seek to avoid shortages during the coronavirus pandemic, Rubens Barbosa, president of milling group Abitrigo, told Reuters by telephone on Thursday. Brazil, which relies on imports for 60% of domestic wheat consumption, is pressing the government to lift sanitary restrictions on Russian wheat and temporarily drop a 10% import tariff on wheat from outside the South American trade bloc Mercosur, including Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. “According to the Argentines, there will be wheat available to export to Brazil,” ...

The impact of the pandemic’s expansion around the world and its financial implications are about to put a halt to the shipping industry’s three-year recovery process. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “at this point, the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be monopolizing all market (as well as all other) discussions across the world and any market insight without some sort of mention would be a major disconnect with the current reality being faced. As of late, the “eye of the storm” of this pandemic is now ...

The usual seasonality in tandem with the coronavirus shockwave have dealt a heavy blow to the dry bulk shipping market during the first quarter of the year. Capesizes hurt the most Capesizes have been hit the worst. Since their trade is China-centric, the nation’s paralysis that followed the virus outbreak had demand for iron ore, which capes rely on, declined. To put things into perspective, China is holding 70% of the global iron ore demand and 35% of the total dry bulk seaborne imports worldwide. Shutdowns across the country dented ...

Today, Wednesday, April 01 2020, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 2 points, reaching 624 points.

Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Cargill International S.A., Geneva, for one of its Kamsarmax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Myrto. The gross charter rate is US$10,000 per day, minus a 4.75% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum July 1, 2021 up to maximum September 15, 2021. The new charter period will commence on April 3, 2020. The “Myrto” is ...

Russia’s economy ministry supports a proposal by the agriculture ministry to limit Russian grain exports to 7 million tonnes in April-June, it said. The government has yet to approve the proposal, made by the agriculture ministry on Friday. “We agreed on such a draft resolution on March 27. As part of our work against the coronavirus,” the ministry said in a reply to a Reuters’ request. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; writing by Polina Devitt; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Today, Tuesday, March 31 2020, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 78 points, reaching 626 points.

This quarter can’t end soon enough for dry bulk, the largest freight market in the world by cargo volume. Rates for Capesizes — bulkers of around 180,000 deadweight tons (DWT) that carry iron ore and coal — have wallowed disastrously in the $2,500-$5,000-per-day range since January. This will be the second-worst quarter ever for Capes after the first quarter of 2016. Now is typically the time of year when rates turn and begin their seasonal climb, but this is not a typical year. April forward freight agreement (FFA) Capesize contracts ...

Today, Monday, March 30 2020, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 8 points, reaching 548 points.

Measures taken to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Argentina, which have hampered local logistics capabilities, may end up benefiting Brazil in soymeal export markets, said Caramuru Alimentos, one of Brazil’s largest soy processors. “Argentina placed transport restrictions much stricter than ours, and this can benefit our soymeal exports because we are direct competitors and they are the largest exporters in the world,” Fabio Vieira Junior, Caramuru’s commercial director, told Reuters on Thursday. The coming weeks will be crucial to determining how the competition scenario will play out, ...

Capesize As Covid-19 continued to ratchet up tensions across the globe, the Cape market dealt with the change to remote working. Most regions of the world are now under no illusions as to the severity of this crisis and are acting to mitigate amongst the daily changing circumstances. Force Majeure declarations are increasingly common, with the latest heard being at European steel mills. At the beginning of this week South Africa announced intended lockdowns on its mines. This led to a rush of fixtures on Tuesday, as West Australia to ...

Chinese soybean processors fear the spread of coronavirus in major exporters could lead to further supply shortages, with some plants in the world’s biggest buyer already having to wind back operations, industry sources and traders said. Top producers Brazil and Argentina have warned of possible delays in getting beans to ports because of transport and other restrictions to control the virus. The moves come after delayed shipments from Brazil due to rains in late February have slashed Chinese inventories to record lows. Crush margins CNSOY-RZO-MRG in Rizhao, Shandong province, a ...

In February, world steel production was maintained at a healthy 143.3m tonnes – an increase of 2.8% year-on-year. But with the world’s top steelmakers shuttering mills in response to Covid-19, the next batch of production figures could look decidedly less robust. Data from the World Steel Association released this week painted a rosy picture of global steel supply. China’s crude steel production for February 2020 was 74.8m tonnes, an increase of 5.0% compared with February 2019; India produced 9.6m tonnes of crude steel in February 2020, up 1.5% on February ...