Baltic Dry Index On the Rise

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, edged up on Wednesday as capesize and supramax vessel segments gained.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was up 17 points, or about 1%, at 1,746, in its second day of gains after Tuesday's 11.3% jump.

"The recent weather disruption in Asia supported owners’ sentiment which coupled with the strong grain stems out of both the ECSA and NCSA (east coast and north coast, South America) led to w-o-w improvements across all sectors," ship broker Intermodal said in a weekly note on Tuesday.

The dry bulk index logged its best week since February on Friday, largely driven by a 126% gain in the capesize vessel segment.

The capesize index gained 27 points, or about 1.4%, to 2,021.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $220 to $16,760.

The panamax index was down 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,021.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, fell $17 to $18,819.

Ukraine's grain exports were down 43.2% year on year in the 2022/23 season so far at 6.88 million tonnes, the agriculture ministry said.

Meanwhile, India is considering allowing overseas shipment of some rice cargoes stuck at ports after the world's biggest exporter of the grain imposed restrictions earlier this month, a government official said on the condition of anonymity.

The supramax index .BSIS rose for a sixth consecutive session, adding 25 points to 1,605.

(Reuters - Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)