Spot rates for capesize bulkers declined on Tuesday, but the futures market signalled better days ahead for the volatile sector.

The Baltic Exchange’s Capesize 5TC set of spot-rate averages across five key routes slipped 3.8% on Tuesday to just over $19,000 per day.

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“Despite what brokers had thought was a reasonable amount of enquiry at the start the week, it has been a somewhat sluggish day,” Baltic Exchange analysts wrote in their daily take on the market.

Australian iron ore behemoth Rio Tinto fixed an unnamed capesize to ship 170,000 tonnes of iron ore from Dampier, Australia, to Qingdao, China, at $8.75 per tonne, with loading from 1 to 3 June.

Rio Tinto hired an unnamed capesize on Monday at a slightly higher cost of $8.85 per tonne to move the same amount of ore on the same route.Loading is slated from 30 May to 1 June.

They noted that major iron ore miners were “in the market today from West Australia to China”, but spot rates fell slightly anyway.

“There has been a distinct lack of activity in the north Atlantic, creating a rather flat market,” they said.

It has been rumoured that Brazilian iron-ore giant Vale is fixing tonnage at a discount to the Baltic Capesize Index for iron ore shipments to China that would begin between 12 and 20 June, the analysts wrote.

But the sector told a different story on paper on Tuesday, as future rates trended upward.

June contracts edged up 1.8% on Tuesday to $18,400 per day, while July contracts gained $35 per day to land at $18,500 per day, according to the Baltic Exchange.

August contracts picked up $36 per day on Tuesday to come in at $18,800 per day.

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