BDI RIP

The poor old Baltic Dry Index was at it again yesterday, slumping below the 2000 mark to close at 1940.

It's now fallen for 30 or more straight sessions, I'm losing count, and more than 50% since late May.

One of the reasons being citing for this spectacular decline is more ships coming onto the market that were ordered at the height of the boom. Given that they take two to three years to build, many of these vessels are only now starting to come on stream now.

A rapid slump in demand for iron ore from China is also another factor.

It's interesting to note that in Egypt's Russian wheat purchase earlier in the week was at USD183.50 plus USD14.75/tonne freight. In it's previous purchase little more than a week earlier freight quotes from Russia in a similar tender were around USD24-25/tonne.