The politics that have lead to China threatening to impose tariffs on imports of US soybeans have been covered widely in the mainstream press, so we wont attempt to cover the broader cause of the trade war here. And the important thing to remember of course is that so far it is just a threat, no action on tariffs has yet been taken. But if things do take a turn for the worse, what is the role of the US and Chinese soybean trade in the freight market?

The Global Iron Ore and Steel Forecast Conference　 took place in Perth, Western Australia at the end of March. We previously reported some of the headline issues, below is a deeper look into what was presented and our interpretation of what it means for freight.

The United States is the leading exporting nation for steel scrap. While President Tump’s 25% levy on steel imports and 10% levy on aluminium imports grab most of the headlines, there are likely to be ripple effects on scrap pricing and trade.

We expect global grain trades to hit a new record high in 2018 with growth of 17.6 million tonnes. This comes on the back of successive years of record harvest and strong demand growth. But lying behind the expansion of agricultural trade and its seaborne demand is another commodity trade that is boosting shipping demand – fertili

Two weeks ago we looked at how bulker contracting and the orderbook had responded to market cycles. Today we take a step back and look at how bulker ordering sits in the context of the overall shipbuilding market – afterall, the bulkers are competing for capital and shipyard space against tankers, container ships and gas carriers as well as the various more specialized sectors. So how does it all stack up?

As the Lunar New Year celebrations come to an end and those who have recently spent time with their families head back to the office, then so news on the major bulks becomes rather thin on the ground. This provides an ideal opportunity for those minor bulks, that often get overlooked in the bigger scheme of things, to have their moment in the spotlight. One such commodity group is mineral sands which, by the scale and number of all the new projects under consideration, is definitely one to watch.

As we have highlighted previously that vessel contracting has picked up considerably over the past 8 months as the market cycle has continued on its upward trajectory. But how does contracting in the current market cycle compare to what has gone before? Are there any lessons from the past?

We have updated our market outlook and forecasts with our latest thinking on supply and demand. The more we look at the supply side, the more confident we feel for this year, though there is a slight cut to expectations further ahead.

At first glance, you would think the imposition of trade tariffs on washing machines and solar panels would be a total non-event for the dry bulk market. They are not exactly the sort of goods that get shipped in a Capesize after all. But when the two main protagonists in the dispute are worlds two largest economies, with both sides having a history of retaliatory action, it doesn’t take long for the shockwaves to be felt elsewhere.