March 2 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s most important sea freight index, monitoring charges for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose additional on Wednesday, on improved charges for panamaxes and smaller vessels.

The total index, which gauges the price of delivery assets together with iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser rose three factors to 335 factors.

The index has misplaced about 97 % of its worth from a peak of 11,793 in May 2008, however has barely recovered after touching an all-time low of 290 factors on Feb. 10.

The capesize index shed three factors to 171 factors, touching a brand new all-time low.

Average every day earnings for capesizes, which generally transport 150,000-tonne cargoes similar to iron ore and coal, fell $36 to $2,291.

The dry bulk market is predicted to stay underneath strain on account of weak demand for commodities, notably from prime world importer China.

The dry cargo market reached its lowest level in 2015 and won’t get better this yr underneath the burden of overcapacity and the Chinese financial system’s transition away from an industrial financial system, Danish delivery firm D/S Norden mentioned on Wednesday.

The panamax index rose seven factors to 364 factors. Average every day earnings for panamaxes, which often carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $51 to $2,920.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index gained 5 factors to 350 factors, whereas the handysize index inched up three factors to 220 factors. (Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru)

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