The capesize bulker market achieved its highest point in a week on Wednesday as fixture activity in the Atlantic basin lifted sentiment, according to an analyst.
The Baltic Exchange’s Capesize 5TC set of spot-rate averages across five key routes jumped 6.5% on Wednesday to $14,106 per day to cross the $14,000-per-day threshold for the first time in seven days.
“According to broker reports, it’s the Atlantic that drives the sentiment on the back of robust fixtures from South Brazil and West Africa,” Clarksons Securities analyst Frode Morkedal wrote in a note.
Oldendorff Carriers is reported to have fixed a newcastlemax bulker on Tuesday night to carry 190,000 tonnes of ore next month from Tubarao, Brazil, to Qingdao, China, at $21 per tonne, according to the Baltic Exchange.
US trader Bunge reportedly fixed the 180,157-dwt Stella Alice (built 2010) to ship 170,000, tonnes of the commodity on the same route in September at $21.45.
Mercuria Energy Group is rumoured to have fixed Brave Maritime Corp’s 181-458-dwt Cape XL (built 2011) to send for 185,000 tonnes of ore from West Africa to China at $22 per tonne after loading from 11 to 15 September.
The futures market has also improved lately, he said, pointing out that fourth-quarter contracts are trading at $18,000 per day.
But he also noted further headwinds to China’s deepening property sector crisis such as trust firm Zhongrong International Trust missing payments on numerous investment products, according to Reuters.
“Moreover, new home prices in China dropped in July, the first decline this year,” Morkedal wrote.
