Freight rates for hauling grains from the United States to Asia fell for a second week due to less demand for shipping coal and grains, freight brokers said on Friday. "The demand side of things has slowed down," said one broker.
Rates had been marching steadily higher for weeks and have increased about 50 percent since the start of the year. Record high freight rates were fuelled by strong demand from China and India and port congestion in Australia.
This week, spot rates for a modern double-hulled Panamax vessel starting on the European continent and sailing from the US Gulf to Japan were pegged at about $50,000 a day, compared with $55,000 last week, the brokers said. One vessel already at the Gulf was booked for $48,000 a day with a ballast bonus of $800,000.
The freight rates equalled roughly $76 per tonne of grain, down from $78 to $79 a week ago, a broker said. Panamax rates for shipping grain from the US Pacific Northwest to Japan were $40,000 a day, roughly unchanged from last week. During the past week, rates got as low as $38,500 a day before rebounding to $40,000.
A daily rate of $40,000 roughly equalled $48 to $49 per tonne of grain, the brokers said. The United States is the world's largest exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat.
The Baltic Exchange's Dry freight index rose 12 points, or 0.2 percent, on Friday to 5,983 - one of its few increases in the last two weeks. The index, which tracks shipping goods such as grains, coal, iron ore and sugar on major export routes, has fallen 10.5 percent since it hit an all-time high of 6,688 in mid-May.