As expected, in the 33rd week, the freight rates in the Azov region had been seriously subsided and, despite the height of the grain season, fell to the may values. Shipowners are confident that with the beginning of the new week the market will revive and they will have the opportunity to raise rates, but experts tracking the market situation, not so sure – while the buyers are offering too low prices, as exporters continue to hold the load. The main driver of deal-making at this stage, many believe the falling ruble. Last week, the dollar rose nearly 1 ruble, which has led to a surge of activity closer to the weekend, but a large number of spot tonnage does not allow interest rates to rise.
Black sea grain market is also down in the dumps, rate from Ukrainian black sea ports of Novorossiysk and reduced is directly proportional to the Azov.
Freight market from the Volga and the don also continues to stagnate. The reason for this is very low performance of the new harvest in the Volga regions, therefore, the Shipowners are more interested in transit cargo from Black sea to the Caspian sea and back. Competition and high margins in this market enables Owners to feel confident in the matter of trade, despite falling rates from the river.
The Caspian region also showed negative dynamics on the background of Muslim holidays. The situation has partly used the Charterers of fertilizers from Turkmenistan, taking over part of the tonnage under transit shipment. The imbalance in the market still remain and on the 34th week in Astrakhan opens up a large number of spot vessels that will continue to pull the market down. The short-term Outlook largely depends on how quickly activity returns to the Iranian importers because of problems with availability of the goods in the Astrakhan region, and the offer of the goods clearly outweigh the demand. Market participants believe that the market will stabilize in early September.