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Richards Bay coal exports soar as Transnet’s recovery plan bears fruit

Logistical and infrastructure upgrades, as well as healthy demand from Asia, played a key role in coal exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal rising for the first time in nearly a decade, as operator Transnet’s turnaround strategy starts yielding results, market participants said this week. The Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported 52.1 million mt in 2024, up from 47.2 million mt a year ago and the highest since 58.7 million mt in 2021, according to the latest presentation by the terminal. Additionally, RBCT expects coal volumes to reach ...

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Dry Bulk Shipping: Capesizes Still Under Pressure

Capesize The Capesize market faced a subdued week, with the BCI 5TC steadily declining from $7,946 on Monday to reach $6,977 by Thursday. However, a modest recovery towards the weeks end lifted the 5TC to $7,252. The Pacific market remained under pressure, exacerbated by the Chinese New Year holidays, which significantly reduced fresh cargo availability. While a handful of miners were active, fixtures remained sparse, and rates softened. However, late in the week, the market saw a slight rebound as two miners re-entered the market, lifting the C5 index up ...

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China passes on US soybeans despite Brazilian delays

Brazil’s slow soybean harvest means that supplies are not reaching buyers as quickly as they might have hoped. But China, the destination for more than 70% of Brazil’s annual soy exports, does not appear concerned. A delayed Brazilian harvest can sometimes widen the export window for U.S. soybeans, but both overall shipments and participation from China have recently been lackluster. U.S. soybean export sales to China spiked for a week in mid-January, but that may have been a one-off event. Weekly volumes have been mostly below average in the last ...

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Dry Bulk Shipping: Brazil’s Iron Ore Exports to China on the Rise

Demand for Brazil’s iron ore, most notably from China rose by 4.1% during 2024. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “2024 was another positive year for global seaborne iron ore trade. In Jan-Dec 2024, global loadings of iron ore increased by +2.3% y-o-y to 1,669.2 mln tonnes, based on AXS Marine vessel tracking data. This builds on the +5.1% y-o-y growth recorded in 2023. Exports from Australia increased marginally in Jan-Dec 2024 by +1.3% y-o-y to 927.4 mln tonnes. From Brazil, exports surged by +5.0% y-o-y ...

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Baltic index snaps 13-day losing streak on larger vessel gains

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, snapped a thirteen-day losing streak on Friday, supported by strong rates across the capesize and panamax vessel segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, gained 20 points to 735 points, recording gains for the first time since Jan. 13. The contract was down 8.1% this week. The capesize index (.BACI) gained 33 points to 874 points. The index was down over 14.4% for the week. ...

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Mitsui O.S.K. Lines: Seasonality to Keep Capesize Dry Bulk Rates Down During the First Quarter

The following is a summary of business conditions including revenue and ordinary profit/loss per business segment. (A)Dry Bulk Business The Capesize bulker market rates remained firm in October and November, due to steady iron ore shipments from Western Australia and Brazil as well as strong bauxite shipments from West Africa. However, in December, iron ore shipments from Brazil declined, leading to a slack vessel supply and demand balance, which sent market rates plummeting through to the end of the year. The market rates for Panamax and smaller vessels trended downward, ...

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US soybean export sales fall short, corn and wheat exceed forecasts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its latest report on Thursday, indicating that export sales of American soybeans fell below analysts’ predictions for the week ending January 23. However, sales of corn and wheat exceeded expectations. The USDA report revealed that soybean export sales amounted to 442,500 metric tons across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 marketing years. This figure is notably below the low end of forecasts from analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, who had estimated sales to range between 450,000 tons and 1.7 million tons. In contrast, ...

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Baltic Dry Index climbs to 735 up 20 points

Today, Friday, January 31 2025, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 20 points, reaching 735 points.

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Baltic index extends fall as rates for capesize, supramax dip

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, extended losses for the thirteenth straight session on Thursday, pressured by a dip in rates across capesize and supramax segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, dropped 11 points to 715 points, hitting its lowest in 23 months. The capesize index slipped 35 points to 841 points, dropping to its lowest level since February 2023. Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transport 150,000-ton ...

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BIMCO Dry Bulk Market Report: Return to the Red Sea would weaken market

We expect a weaker supply/demand balance in 2025 and 2026 than in 2024, even if ships do not fully return to the Red Sea. In this report, we are working with two different demand scenarios, depending on when ships can fully return to the Red Sea. For our main scenario, we assume ships may gradually return to the Red Sea over the first half of 2025. In this scenario, the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas leads toward an end to the conflict in Gaza and the Houthis are not ...

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China’s iron ore and coal imports ease in January, but prices diverge

China’s imports of iron ore and seaborne coal are on track for a soft start to the year, with January arrivals declining to multi-month lows. However, the price trends for the two key bulk commodities are divergent, with iron ore holding up while thermal coal slides to the weakest in nearly four years. China, the world’s biggest iron ore buyer, is expected to import 99.5 million metric tons of the key steel raw material in January, according to commodity analysts Kpler. That would be down from the official customs figure ...

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Baltic Dry Index falls to 715 down 11 points

Today, Thursday, January 30 2025, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 11 points, reaching 715 points.

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Baltic index falls to 23-month low as capesize and supramax rates dip

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, extended its losses to a nearly two-year low on Wednesday, pressured by a dip in rates across capesize and supramax segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, dropped 20 points to 726 points, to its lowest since February 2023. The capesize index slipped 55 points to 876 points, to its lowest since February 2023. Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transport 150,000-ton cargoes ...

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Dry Weekly Market Monitor: Capesize Market Insights

The momentum in the freight market has weakened as we approached the end of January and the onset of the Chinese New Year. The prevailing oversupply situation continues to significantly pressure market sentiment, compounded by a decline in demand for tonne-day growth. In the Capesize segment, we have observed a clear downward trend in tonne-day growth for shipments from Brazil to China, with the performance of the BCI (Baltic Capesize Index) dropping nearly 50% compared to the levels recorded at the same time last year. As the freight market continues ...

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Vale posts highest annual iron ore output since 2018 despite fourth-quarter slide

Brazilian miner Vale posted on Tuesday its highest annual iron ore production since 2018, even after a decline in output in the fourth quarter when the company prioritized higher-margin products. One of the world’s largest iron ore suppliers, Vale’s production of the steel ingredient reached almost 328 million metric tons in 2024, up 2% from a year earlier. It expects to produce between 325 million and 335 million tons of iron ore in 2025. “Vale’s performance in 2024 was marked by greater operational stability and the start-up of key projects,” ...

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