LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities continued to fall to 752 points on Friday led by lower cape, panamax and supramax rates.

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, down by another 18 points to 752 points on Friday.

While the start of each year is typically, the slowest time of the year, when it comes to the dry bulk market, 2017 has proved to be quite different.

In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “unlike the typical lull in the market that we note during the period just prior to the Chinese New Year, 2017 has proved to be fairly more resilient, allowing many to boost their hopes as to the overall performance they expect the market to show during the rest of the year.”