Capesize freight rates reversed to losses over scant demand, without much improvement in market fundamentals.
The Capesize 5 time charter average, then fell by $392 day-on-day to $15,397 on Friday, due to the lack of fresh shipping demand.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) however, rose by $37 day-on-day, up 1.91% day-on-day, to $1,977, due to better freight rates.
Cooling off after strong rebound
Freight rates reverted to downward slide after some strong rally at the week, as more Chinese trade participants returned to the market, after the Spring festival holidays.
However, the shipping demand soon took a dive, and it was reflected in softening paper market, as most operators were in collecting mood, especially for the March laycan at the key Western Australia to China route.
Meanwhile, there was some market concerns over the Covid-related labor issues that affected the production and disruption of raw materials sent for shipments.
Bunker prices jump on escalating geo-political tension
The bunker prices continued to hike up on strong crude prices, as the price of VLSFO went up by $4.00/mt to $729/mt in the port of Singapore.
Brent crude price movement seemed to head toward the $100 per barrel mark, with Russian invasion of Ukraine seemed imminent by military experts that support oil prices further up by another 10% from current price levels.
Meanwhile, IEA expected global oil demand to expand by 3.2 million barrels per day to reach a record high of 100.6 million bpd in 2022.