The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dropped on Wednesday, pressured by a dip in capesize and panamax vessel rates. The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 26 points, or 1.8%, to 1,445. The capesize index dipped by 49 points, or 2.3%, to 2,127. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes including iron ore and coal, declined $406 to $17,638. The panamax index edged 36 points ...

Today, Wednesday, September 02 2020, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 26 points, reaching 1445 points.

China’s General Administration of Customs said barley shipments from CBH Grain would be halted after pests were found on multiple occasions, the administration said on its official WeChat account. Representatives for CBH Grain did not immediately respond to requests for comment. While Beijing’s ruling on CBH Grain did not essentially affect trade after the imposition of more than an 80% tariff on Australian barley earlier this year, it cast a shadow over Australian exports to China. “It is a signal, showing that Australian firms will be in an unfavourable situation. ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dropped to its lowest in nearly one month on Tuesday, hit by declining rates for capesize and panamax vessels. The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 17 points, or 1.1%, to 1,471, its lowest since Aug. 4. The capesize index dipped by 42 points, or 1.9%, to 2,176. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes including iron ore and ...

Newbuilding orders for dry bulk carriers could pick up pace in the coming weeks, despite last week’s pause. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “interest for newbuilding projects in the dry bulk sector seems to have paused this past week, with most enquiries failing to materialized into transactions. However, overall sentiment has improved as of late, with market fundamentals enhanced, while concerns over the global economy starting to subside. Given the improved environment, we do expect some fresh transactions to take place during the following weeks. ...

As agricultural dry bulk commodities exports took a dive in the first quarter of this year and painted a gloomy picture for Panamax and Handymax freight rates, a stunning second quarter comeback have nearly tripled freight rates. While total agricultural export volumes are now solidly up in the first half of the year, they are not mind-blowingly high, and export volumes in the first quarter of 2020 certainly offered little help. A significant rise in demand for shipping and a boost in exports in April, May and June on the ...

After posting a mild recovery in July, India’s coal imports have stumbled in August as the South Asian nation battles to restart its economy amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. India’s imports of both thermal coal, used in power stations, and coking coal, used to make steel, are estimated at around 12.2 million tonnes in August, according to Refinitiv vessel-tracking and port data. The data includes seven ships that were discharging cargoes as of the last day of August, meaning there are likely to be minor revisions depending on whether these ...

A total of 86 vessels carrying 13.58 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during August 23-29, SMM estimates. This was down 950,000 mt from the previous week, but up 2.23 million mt from the same period last year. The amount of arrivals in Tangshan and Tianjin declined on the week. For the same week, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports fell 1.81 million mt to 15.98 million mt due to maintenance of berths at Dampier port and Hedland port. Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were estimated ...

Today, Tuesday, September 01 2020, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 17 points, reaching 1471 points.

The dry bulk market has staged a rebound over the past few weeks, but more positive news are required from the demand side of things, in order for a more sustainable recovery to take center stage. To this extent, China’s soybean imports could provide some assistance. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “record soybean arrivals to Mainland China since May have made up for the weak imports early this year due to the impact of COVID-19, and brought year-todate imports back above the average of the ...

China is set to record another month of strong iron ore imports in August, helping to justify the ongoing resilience in the price of the main ingredient in steel. What’s harder to quantify is exactly what’s happening to all the steel being produced. China’s seaborne imports of iron ore were 92.9 million tonnes, with one day left to assess cargo arrivals, according to Refinitiv vessel-tracking and port data. Even if this figure does increase somewhat, it’s unlikely to reach the record 112.65 million tonnes reported by customs for July, however, ...

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported this week that Chinese importers purchased more soybeans from the United States and recorded their largest daily buy of US corn in almost a month. The acquisitions took place as both Washington and Beijing reaffirmed their commitment to the Phase 1 of the bilateral trade agreement. In a daily report on exports, the USDA said that the Chinese traders bought 408,000 tons of corn and 204,000 tons of soy from the United States, both for shipment in the 2020/21 business year, which begins ...

Australia saw robust exports to China in the first half of the year, showing its increased dependency on the Chinese market, but it then recorded a 17 percent decline in exports to China in July, with metalliferous ores exports falling 12 percent from the level in June. Other Australian exports to China, especially resources, declined as well. For instance, its coal exports to China dropped 42 percent during the same period, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Under pressure from the US, Australia has been allowing its ...

Capesize The week ended with a flurry of Brazil fixing which is now hovering in the low $18’s – approximately a dollar up on last week. Vale were rumoured to have been active, taking possibly three vessels over 203,000 dwt, in the $17.50/17.65 region. Meanwhile there was less activity in the transatlantic market where the C7 and C8 routes came off a shade and the fronthaul was relatively static. The Ocean Cobalt (180,200-dwt 2008) which sailed from Mundra on 21 August, was rumoured fixed but no specific details emerged. In ...

US containerized soybean exports to Asia are seeing an earlier-than-usual seasonal surge in demand in August, with Taiwanese buyers leading the pack in purchasing, market sources said. Typically, the demand season in Asia for US containerized soybean imports starts around September. “The price is more competitive than bulk,” said a source based in Taiwan, who added that he expects container purchases to continue to rise till the end of the fourth quarter in 2020. Typically, Taiwan imports around 120,000 mt of soybeans a month, or around two bulk vessels. While ...