SteelOrbis Shanghai
The world economic slowdown has been increasing its negative impact on the global dry bulk cargo market. On October 28, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) dropped below 1,000 points to 982 points, constituting a slump of 91.7 percent from the peak level of 11,793 points for the current year, and also marking a decrease for the 17th consecutive trading day and a new record low since August 8, 2002.
The bullish performance in the dry bulk cargo market over the past several years was mainly driven by the demand from the many emerging countries for iron ore and other raw materials. However, due to the economic slowdown of China and other emerging countries, the demand for iron ore has declined sharply.
Furthermore, although the shipbuilding market has experienced delivery delays and some other difficulties, a large amount of shipping capacity will still be put into the market in the coming year. As a result, the double pressure from decreased demand and increased supply means that it will be very difficult for the general market pessimism to gain relief in the short term.