According to an article published in Freight Investor Services, Baltic Dry Index (BDI) dropped by 7.63% on-day to 1,533 points over weak shipping fundamentals.
Decrease in capesize market rates
- The Capesize market – often see as the bellwether for dry bulk shipping growth continued to weaken during the week from limited shipping activity.
- As such, the Capesize paper market faced a selloff throughout the week with a sharp drop as the Capesize 5 time charter average fell by $2,395 on-day to $22,217.
Port Closures in China
- Freight rates headed southward as the week opened with a public holiday in Japan, while the coal-related trade participants were away from the market to attend the Coaltrans conference held in Vietnam.
- Furthermore, the shipping activities were affected by port closures in North China, where port like Jingtang, Caofeidian, and Bayuquan was suspended from operations due to strong winds.
- There were also low shipping activities in the Atlantic market, while the Pacific market was not doing well either and freight rates were expected to move further down over the short term.
Delayed US-China trade agreement?
- The “Phrase One” trade agreement between the US and China are seen to hit another hiccup with the possibility of postponing the signing of the agreement until December.
- The on-and-off trade tussle between the world’s number one and the second-largest economy had placed the shipping market on the wrong foot with more trade uncertainty.
- Thus, some trade participants doubted whether China will still purchase US farm products such as soybeans as part of the trade deals.
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Source: FreightInvestorServices
