Baltic Dry Index Drops for Third Week

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell for a third straight week on Friday, as rates across vessel segments dropped.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was down six points, or about 0.3%, at 2,067 points, posting a weekly fall of 6.6%

The capesize index gained 65 points, or nearly 3%, at 2,270 points.

Capesize rates shed about 4.7% for the week, posting their third consecutive weekly decline.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $539 to $18,825.

Singapore iron ore futures were set for weekly losses, with renewed optimism about economic stimulus in China quickly fading and focus shifting back to COVID-19 restrictions in the world's top steel producer.

Meanwhile, Russia is holding talks with China, the world's biggest coal consumer, on increasing its supply, TASS news agency reported citing an official at Russia's Energy Ministry.

The panamax index was down 55 points, or 2.4%, at 2,223 points, logging its third weekly fall at about 10.3%.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $491 to $20,010.

Farmers in India have fallen behind in planting key summer-sown crops such as rice, corn and soybeans due to the uneven distribution of monsoon rainfall, official data showed.

The supramax index fell 40 points to 2,163 points, shedding over 5.5% this week and heading into the seventh straight week of declines.

(Reuters - Reporting by Deep Vakil; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)