Friday, June 12, 2009
Baltic Dry Index may have peaked: Clarkson
Friday, 12 June 2009
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities that almost doubled last month, may have peaked for this year, according to Clarkson plc, the world's largest shipbroker. The gauge rose to 4,291 points on June 3 in a run of 23 straight gains as China imported iron ore. The index collapsed a record 92 per cent last year as demand for steel from carmakers and builders tumbled and the world economy slumped.
'This is the best we are going to get this year,' Martin Stopford, managing director of Clarkson Research Studies, said at a TradeWinds conference in Oslo yesterday. He cited 'economic forces' and declining world steel output.
The index has fallen 18 per cent since June 3.
Global steel output fell 24 per cent in April, according to the World Steel Association.
Source: Bloomberg
