Thursday, July 22, 2010

Freight rates flash warning signs

22 Jul 2010, 0101 hrs IST,Nidhi Nath Srinivas,ET Bureau

NEW DELHI:Global shipping rates are heaving and tossing. In May, it cost $25 to send one tonne iron ore from Andhra Pradesh to China. Today, it costs $12.50. Bringing a tonne of coal from Australia to India cost $30 per tonne in May and now $17.50.
In May, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which tracks charter rates for vessels carrying iron ore, grains, and coal on the world’s 26 busiest routes, rose 22%. In July, it fell almost 60% in its longest streak of consecutive declines for nine years (34 days running as of July 14). That’s no small thing because freight costs have a huge impact on both the overall volume of global trade and on the trade patterns of individual countries, to say nothing of the havoc it can wreak on raw material costs and export earnings of companies. Read full article here

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