Summary:

The Baltic Dry Index fell from 3030 to 2297 by the end of December a fall of 25 percent. However, the Dry Cargo tonne mile demand grew by 7%. Also interesting, quarter four demand is down only 4% after a strong decline in the Dry Baltic Index.

If we compare December this year to December last year, tonne mile demand is also down 4%. However, the Baltic Dry Index is almost double from 1300 points to 2500 points. Covid-19 is causing a really strong disconnect there.

Iron ore was one of the strong performers in December. A total of 146 million tonnes was moved, which was the highest amount since the previous December and up 16 million tonnes from November at 130 million tonnes. China took in nearly all that extra capacity and they went from 94 million tonnes in November to 104 million tonnes in December. Most of the extra iron ore came from Australia, who exported 82 million tonnes, which was by far the highest monthly export figure for 2021.


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