Baltic Dry Index plunge ends

The Baltic Dry Index ended its 35-day plunge on Friday. The BDI’s loosing streak finally came to halt moving up 1.18% to close at 1,720 points at the end of last week. The sharp plunge in the BDI which had sparked fears of market crash similar to the end of 2008 was triggered by lower iron ore imports by China and a large number of newbuildings entering the dry bulk fleet. Only 11 capesizes were fixed for iron ore last week compared to 21 the previous week. “Two weeks ago, the steady increase in available vessel supply was largely responsible for the continued decline in freight rates. Last week’s decrease in freight rates, however, was largely due to the recent decline in spot cargo demand,” Commodore Research said in its weekly report. All eyes will be on the index on Monday to see if recovery continues or rates start to fall again.