Capesize freight rates continued its downward spiral, due to thin market activities following holiday in Brazil.
The Capesize 5 time charter average, then fell further by $1,629 day-on-day to $22,102 on Thursday, after another rounds of selloff.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) also dropped further by 2.29% or 58 points on-day to 2,472 readings, due to weakening freight rates.
More freight corrections amid quiet Atlantic
The Atlantic market was muted due to holiday period in Brazil, which further depressed freight rates in the key Brazil to China route.
Due to the low rates, some trade participants noticed the ballasters list had decreased since shipowners had little incentive to ballast west toward Brazil.
However, this meant more tonnage available in the Pacific market and put more pressure on the already soft freight rates.
Thus, freight rates did not rise much in the Pacific market, despite good volumes of fixtures secured by major miners recently.
Rebounding bunker prices provide little support to falling freight rates
The bunker prices rebounded again on better crude market, as the price of VLSFO gained by $7/mt to $524/mt in the port of Singapore.
However, the price uptick lent little support to the weakening freight rates, which were hit by high tonnage and low shipping demand.
Meanwhile, market sentiment for oil demand recovery remained firm with another inventory draw reported in the US.
According to Energy Information Administration, the US crude inventories dipped again by a draw of 5.1 million barrels last week, beating market estimate of a draw at 2.4 million mt.