Baltic Dry Index Hits Six-week Low

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index extended its slide on Thursday to hit the lowest in more than six weeks, hurt by falling rates across vessel segments.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, lost 68 points, or 2.8%, to 2,342 points.

The capesize index fell 88 points, or about 3.6%, to 2,369 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $737 to $19,643.

China's coal imports dropped in May after a strong rebound in the previous month, official data showed on Thursday, as cheap domestic sources and weak demand due to Beijing's zero-COVID curbs dented appetite for overseas cargoes.

The panamax index dropped 73 points, or 2.7%, to 2,674 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, decreased by $659 to $24,064.

Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures slipped as traders continued to worry about weak profits at Chinese steel mills, with fresh COVID alerts in Shanghai and Beijing adding to concerns.

The supramax index lost 58 points to 2,527 points.

(Reuters - Reporting by Rahul Paswan; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)