Baltic Dry Index
Baltic Dry Index traces to January 1985, when the Baltic Exchange in London began publishing the daily Baltic Freight Index for dry bulk shipping, which the Baltic Dry Index replaced on November 1, 1999.
What happened and why it matters
The index gave shipping a daily public price signal, and it remains one of the most quoted gauges of global trade conditions. It is built from assessments of charter rates for dry bulk ships carrying cargo such as iron ore, coal and grain, and the original index was created partly to settle freight futures contracts. Since March 2018 it has been a weighted average of Capesize, Panamax and Supramax rates. Because it covers bulk shipping, not containers, e-commerce importers track container rate indexes for their own costs, but the BDI is still a useful early read on raw material demand and the wider freight market.
Related events
Sources
- Baltic timeline 1980 to 1992 (Baltic Exchange) balticexchange.com
- Baltic Dry Index (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org