Spot rates for capesize bulk carriers continued their decline on Tuesday, with the biggest falls seen on iron ore routes from Brazil, according to Baltic Exchange data.
Iron ore commodity prices have leapt since Friday, due in part to uncertainty surrounding how Brazilian exports will be affected by the disaster at Feijao, Brazil, where a dam collapsed at a Vale-owned mine.
Meanwhile, Chinese import demand for iron ore has slowed due to high inventories at the country's ports ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.
Iron ore fixtures for capes in the spot market appear to have slowed accordingly, with only two having been reported fixed so far this week, compared to five reported on Monday and Tuesday last week.
The Baltic Capesize Index (BCI) has fallen by 13% since the disaster on Friday and was assessed at 1,508 today, down 123 points from Monday’s level.
Since the dam collapse, sharp declines on routes for iron ore cargoes ex-Brazil have triggered the BCI’s abrupt decline.
Worst affected have been round-voyage rates for China to Brazil (C14), which have fallen by 15% since Friday.
Rates on the route were assessed today at $11,614 per day, some $1,159 below Monday’s level.
Rates on the Baltic’s two benchmark routes from Tubarao in Brazil both show a 7% decline from Friday’s assessment, although only slight reductions have been seen since Monday.
Rates on the Tubarao to Rotterdam (C2) route were today assessed at $7.222 per ton, some $0.278 lower than Monday’s assessment.
Similarly, the Tubarao to Qingdao route (C3) saw a decline of $0.741 to $15.114 per ton on Tuesday.
The Baltic’s Bolivar to Rotterdam (C7) benchmark route has fallen just over 5% since the dam disaster and today fell by a further $0.23 from Monday’s assessment to $8.125 per ton.
Two spot fixtures were reported on Tuesday for capes carrying iron ore from Western Australia to Qingdao, according to Baltic fixtures data.
Toshin Kisen’s 181,500-dwt cape Pacific Endurance (built 2011) was fixed to Cara at $5.60 per ton, with a laycan of 12-14 February.
Cargill fixed an unidentified vessel with a 9-11 February laycan at the same rate.
Reported rates on the Western Australia to Qingdao route were last week fixing at $6 per ton and over.
