Today, Friday, June 14 2019, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 23 points, reaching 1085 points.

Today, Thursday, June 13 2019, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 18 points, reaching 1062 points.

Chinese steel mills facing a slump in profit margins are scrambling for lower grade iron ore to cut costs, squeezing supplies and halting a long-standing market trend towards higher grade ore. As iron ore prices surge, the spread between medium- and low-grade iron ore in China has narrowed to its smallest in two-and-half years, with some buyers turning to low-grade product from countries like India to fill blast furnaces. Chinese mills have spurned lower grade ores in recent years, preferring high-grade product from Brazil’s Vale or 62-percent mid-grade Australian ores, ...

Today, Wednesday, June 12 2019, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 25 points, reaching 1080 points.

Fleet growth expected to outstrip demand growth in 2019 and 2020, making the near future look unappealing. Demand drivers and freight rates It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the dry bulk market in 2019. The market fell from slightly profitable levels in the first week of January, to hit loss-making lows during February, March and April that almost touched the all-time lows seen in early 2016. The Handysize, Supramax and Panamax segments all started to climb again after Chinese New Year in mid-February, but the Capesize sector lost all buoyancy. ...

If trade strife continues between the United States and Mexico despite a deal struck on Friday, Argentine grain exporters are ready to step in to meet Mexican food demand, the head of an Argentine industry chamber said. The U.S. government called off a threatened 5% tariff on all Mexican goods when Mexico promised to do more to stem the flow of Central American immigrants into the United States. But Trump on Monday warned he could revive the tariffs if Mexico’s Congress does not approve the plan. Mexico would likely respond ...

China’s May coal imports rose 8.6% from the month before to 27.47 million tonnes, customs data showed on Monday, the highest level since January as power utilities boosted purchases ahead of summer. Weak demand from Europe and ample supplies also pushed global coal prices lower just before China’s peak demand season, encouraging large purchases last month, said traders. The May shipments were the highest since January’s 33.5 million tonnes. Lower prices also helped push May imports up 23% from the same month last year, showed the data published by the ...

Today, Tuesday, June 11 2019, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 20 points, reaching 1105 points.

China’s iron ore imports rebounded in May from an 18-month-low in April, but were still well down on the same month last year as disruptions to output in Brazil and Australia hampered shipments. The world’s biggest iron ore consumer brought in 83.75 million tonnes of iron ore last month, up 3.7% from April but down 11% from May 2018, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Monday. For the first five months of the year, China imported 423.92 million tonnes of iron ore, down 5.2% on the ...

The negative impact of the lack of cargoes in the dry bulk market since the start of the year took its toll in the level of the global fleet’s utilization rate, which declined by 3.7% over the course of the first three months of 2019. According to a recent analysis by dry bulk ship owner, Golden Ocean, “global dry bulk fleet utilization (calculated as total demand in tonne miles transported divided by total available fleet capacity) dropped by 3.7% in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting the trend observed in ...

Today, Monday, June 10 2019, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 13 points, reaching 1125 points.

Capesize The market continued in an unusually steady ascent last week. With no major news in the market, each day improved on the last, breaking with the recent boom bust volatility. Owners appear to be less inclined to overplay their hand, while taking the smaller improvements as they come, in what appears to be a sustainable market. The Cape 5TC opened the week at $12,987 and closed out Friday at $15,007. The West Australia C5 route opened the week at $7.223 to close at $7.732, with timecharter rates in the ...

The recent one-year anniversary of the US-China trade war is nothing to celebrate for. In fact, ongoing friction is now openly threatening the global economy, with many analysts (most recently the IMF) now openly warning about a looming global recession. This of course is bad news for the shipping industry. In a recent note, shipbroker Intermodal said that “as of May 1st, the U.S. has ended waivers to the sanctions that had allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil to continue their imports. China is the world’s No1 oil importer ...

Baltic Dry Index (BDI) continued to strengthen this week due to lower bunker prices and higher forward freight agreement (FFA). By Wednesday, the BDI reached almost a five-months high at 1,141 reading, after the index descended into a freefall back in late January. The week also saw gradual increase on freight rates, only to be disrupted by a series of Asian holidays where Singapore, South Korean and China’s market closed their market in succession for the Wed-Fri period. Slows and steady Capesize By Thursday, much of the physical Capsize market ...

Today, Friday, June 07 2019, the Baltic Dry Index showed no change, remaining at 1138 points.