Average spot rates for capesize bulkers achieved a second day of gains on Tuesday after falling steadily for nearly four weeks as Australia sends more iron ore to China, a country that is trying to get its property sector back on track.

The Baltic Exchange’s Capesize 5TC set of spot-rate averages gained 6.5% on Tuesday to reach $11,470 per day to reach its highest point in the week.

“Higher Australia-China bookings have been a key driver to start this week,” Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta wrote in a note on Tuesday.

The average spot rate for the C10 iron ore route between Australia and China jumped 26.4% on Tuesday to $16,170 per day. That is the highest it has been in about two weeks.

“The main activity has yet again been focused on shipments from West Australia to China,” Baltic Exchange analysts wrote on Tuesday.

“Brokers have said there is still a lack of coal enquiry from East Coast Australia, although this is not having any negative impact on the market.”

Australian iron ore majors Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue Metals Group have hired seven unnamed capesizes total on Monday and Tuesday to ship ore from West Australia to China.

BHP fixed three of them on Tuesday to send 160,000 tonnes of the commodity from Dampier, Australia, to Qingdao, China, after loading them from 18 to 23 June. BHP hired one vessel at $8.45 per day and the other two at $8.75 per day.

On Monday, the three majors hired four unnamed capesizes between them at $7.80 to $7.95 per tonne to ship a total of 660,000 tonnes of ore from the Australian ports of Dampier and Port Hedland to China after loading the ships from 19 to 21 June.

The average spot rate for the roundtrip C14 iron ore route from Brazil to China improved as a result of all of this fixture activity, jumping 11% on Tuesday to come in at $12,050 per day to break the $12,000-per-day threshold for the first time in a week.

The capesize futures market also rose on Tuesday as July contracts picked up $389 per day to come in at $16,939 per day.