| A measure of global shipping costs for commodities fell to a 28-year low as slowing growth in China’s demand for cargoes compounds the effect a fleet glut. The Baltic Dry Index plunged 5.1 percent to 632 points, the lowest since Aug. 22, 1986, according to data from the Baltic Exchange in London on Thursday. Freight rates for all the vessel types within the measure declined.
China, the world’s biggest buyer of of coal and iron ore, will increase imports of the two commodities by 6 percent this year, down from a growth rate of 8.7 percent in 2014, according to estimates from Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker. The nation’s economic expansion this year will be the slowest since 1990, the average of 67 economists’ forecasts compiled by Bloomberg shows...............................................Full Article: Source
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