Baltic Index Falls for Fifth Day

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, dropped for the fifth session in a row on Thursday, as rates waned for capesize and panamax vessel segments.

The Baltic dry index, tracking rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 70 points, or 4.5%, to a three-week low of 1,470.

The capesize index slipped for the sixth session in a row, shedding 200 points, or 9.3%, to a more than five-week trough of 1,945.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dropped by $1,657 to $16,133.

Chinese iron ore futures fell nearly 5% on Thursday as weak pre-holiday downstream steel consumption and a government call for less steel output this year weighed on the steelmaking raw material.

The panamax index fell 14 points, or 0.9%, to 1,631, a one-week low.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, were down $127 at $14,680.

The supramax index edged 3 points higher to 1,166, a peak since end-October 2019.

(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)