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May 17, 2018BALTIC DRY INDEX FIRST QUARTER 2018 The BDI measures procurement costs of shipping raw materials by sea. When these costs go down, producers benefit from increased margins, and consumers benefit from lower prices for finished products.
On May 20, 2008, the Baltic Exchange reported the BDI = 11,793 a new high for the index. Before the year was out, the BDI dropped to 663 on 5 December 2008.
On February 10, 2016, the Baltic Exchange reported the BDI = 290 a new low for the index. When the index drops below 500, shipping companies tend to idle their fleets as variable costs cannot be recovered.
On the last trading day in December 2017, the Baltic Exchange reported the BDI = 1,366, an increase of 405 points over the last trading day in December 2016 (961), andan increase of 1076 points over February 10, 2016.
On the last trading day of the quarter, 29 March 2018, the Baltic Exchange reported the BDI = 1,055. The BDI is below the recent high of 1743 reported December 12, 2017, but appears that the recent decline has bottomed out.
From media reports:
Bloomberg (interative chart)
Baltic Dry Index - BDI (BALDRY), wikinvest
The Shipping News
The Baltic Exchange
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