The Baltic Dry Index is an index covering dry bulk shipping rates and managed by the Baltic Exchange in London. According to Baltic Exchange, the index provides:
- an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 40 shipping routes measured on a timecharter and voyage basis, the index covers supramax, panamax and capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain.
The index is made up of an average of the Baltic Supramax, Panamax and Capesize indices. These indices are based on professional assessments made by a panel of international shipbroking companies. The index can be accessed on a subscription basis directly from the Baltic Exchange as well as major financial information and news services such as Thomson Financial Datastream, Reuters and Bloomberg L.P.. Since the cost of shipping varies with the amount of cargo that is being shipped (supply and demand), and since dry bulk is usually goods that are precursors to production (like cement, coal, and iron ore), the index is also seen as a good economic indicator of future economic growth and production.
