Coal news and updates

Expectations in regard to the summer vary across the market

The Dry Bulk market closed off last slightly up last week, with the BDI re-gaining the 600 points level, while the driving force behind the increase was the Panamax sector, which following some very challenging weeks during May, finally managed to take a small breather, says Intermodal its recent weekly report.

Expectations in regards to the summer season vary across the market.

The Greece based broker further noted that, the more optimistic are focusing on Chinese iron ore inventories and the fact that traditionally the re-stocking that takes place following a decrease in port inventories boosts Capesize rates and lifts the entire market. Although this is true, the fact that Chinese demand for steel has been faltering is what is key here, while let’s not forget that last year, which was an exceptional year in terms of Chinese iron ore imports, rates disappointed vastly, which bring us back to the tonnage oversupply issue that still seems to be weighing heavily on the market.

The Capesize market was quiet last week, especially in the Atlantic, while talk of iron ore majors being active in the Pacific emerged just before the market slid into the weekend.

Commenting on Panamax Intermodal said, the Atlantic Panamax kept improving last week as ECSA remained a steady provider of fresh enquiry amidst balanced supply of tonnage in the region. The Pacific market kept moving sideways at the same time, while period enquiry saw some steady numbers.

The Atlantic Handysize/ Handymax/ Supramax market improved significantly last week with some very good numbers being reported positionally. At the same time the Black Sea/Med witnessed persisting lack of enquiry, while steady numbers were being observed in the Far East.

source: http://www.coalspot.com