Markets remain fairly stable in late October
Markets were noted to be holding fairly steady in late October with the the Baltic Dry Index closing on Friday the 29th of October 2010 at 2678 points, with some small gains in the Panamax sectors helping to keep the BDI on a positive track. There are some concerns that traditional coal deliveries from South Africa and Colombia might switch to China and India which may impact on rates, while Chinese ore imports will rise for the rest of the year due to low domestic stockpiles another upward indicator.
By the end of October the Panamax 4TC eased by US$300 to close the week at US$17,900 per day. This ‘stabilisation’ of the market came from the Pacific basin and was thanks to an active export of iron ore and coal out of Indonesia and Australia to China. In the Atlantic, the market eased by US$500 on the BPI route but there was a good quantity of Panamax tonnage getting fixed for the USG/China trade. The TA round closed month-end at US$17,000 per day.
The Baltic Supramax Index went down by 67 points to finish at 1791 points as at end-October while the average of the time charter routes lost about US$700 to finish at US$18,700 per day. The market was active in the Atlantic but many vessels were turning to spot towards the end of the month putting some downward pressure on all basins, mainly in ECSA and the Black Sea. Some support was present though as activity was maintained on sugar and grains with requirements out of ECSA. Activity softened as well in the USG/USEC region, the main commodities being grain, scrap and petcoke, trading mainly back to the Continent/Med range.
On the smaller sizes, the Baltic Handysize index went down by 44 points to finish at 950 points with the time charter routes losing US$658 to reach US$13,875 daily. The TARV was worth US$13,000 per day, whereas the Pacific round voyage was trading close to US$13,500 daily – say brokers at Barry Rogliano in Paris.
On the period front, a 58,000dwt newbuild fixed ex-yard Japan for two years trading, redelivery worldwide at US$20,500 daily. A 58,000 dwt also fixed delivery WC India for 11/13 months trading redelivery worldwide at a rate close to US$21,000. Short period is getting fixed in the very high teens for delivery Far East and redelivery worldwide. For the smaller sizes, a Handysize was fixed for one year delivery India at a rate close to US$14,000. Published under Cement News
