Costs for Capesizes hauling more than 150,000 metric tons of the raw material used in steel rose 2.3 percent to $6,298 a day, the ninth increase in a row, according to the Baltic Exchange in London. The Baltic Dry Index, a wider measure of commodity shipping costs, rose 0.3 percent to 892.
Chinese iron ore imports jumped to 67.15 million metric tons last month, the most this year and the highest for an April on record, according to customs data. Chinese demand for the commodity generates the greatest trade for dry-bulk shipping and Australia is the biggest exporter, followed by Brazil, according to data from Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker.
“There’s been decent demand and there’s a lot of cargoes coming out of Australia in particular,” said Peter Norfolk, an analyst at Freight Investor Services Ltd. in London. “That’s helping to support things.”
Two out of four vessel types tracked by the exchange gained. As well as Capesizes, the largest monitored, rates also advanced for Handysizes, the smallest. Costs for those rose 0.3 percent to $8,078.
Panamaxes hauling about 75,000 tons fell 0.4 percent to $7,948 a day while Supramaxes transporting 50,000 tons fell 0.2 percent to $9,121.