The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index rose for a seventh consecutive session, helped by growing demand for ships across vessel segments.
The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels that ferry dry bulk commodities, rose 40 points, or 2.6%, to 1,568 points, its highest since Nov. 5.
The capesize index rose 100 points, or 3.2%, to its highest since mid-Oct at 3,231 points. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $628 to $24,493.
The panamax index gained 57 points, or 4.7% to 1,282 points, rising for a fourth-straight session. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, increased $446 to $10,268.
Factors including higher demand from Chinese iron ore, coal, and soybean imports, vessel adjustments and progress on a U.S.-China trade are likely to support dry bulk rates in December and into 2020, Randy Giveans, vice-president, equity research at Jefferies said in a note. China’s steel future prices rose on Monday after Beijing released the official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which hinted towards an improvement in its manufacturing sector in November.
The supramax index inched up three points to 819 points, registering its ninth-straight session of gains.
Reporting by Anjishnu Mondal
