The roller-coaster ride of Baltic Dry Index in last 6 months

Riken Mehta

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Baltic Dry index, a barometer of global trade fell 26 percent this week after the new environmental rules implemented by Colombia. The government halted loading of coal out of the country after US miner Drummond failed to comply with environmental rules. Colombia is world’s fourth largest supplier of thermal coal. Baltic Dry index which indicates the daily charter rate for vessels carrying cargoes of coal, iron ore, and grain lost 11 percent in trade today. This was the steepest intraday fall for the index since October 2008. The index surged nearly 200 percent in the period June-December before peaking out around 2330 levels. The index is down 35 percent in last one month.