LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities slightly up on Monday, but the index has failed to climb back above the key 900 point level and bearish sentiment is prevailing for expectations of shipping demand this week.
The Baltic Dry Index, which provides an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials – such as coal, iron ore and grain – by sea by taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a time charter basis, slightly up by 02 points to 894 points on Monday.
With this bearish sentiment comes the possibility that the BDI has already peaked for the year and now a few months of downside could follow.
Typically, the BDI sees its seasonal peak in the October – December period, but the BDI saw a significant rally in September and has since pulled back. There was some optimism over an uptick in demand for shipping raw materials to China following the end of its week-long national day holiday, but that failed to materialize.
