July 5 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index .BADI , tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, hit a near 12-week low on Tuesday, with all three of its component indexes hitting multi-month lows.
- The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, fell 61 points, or over 2.8%, to 2,098 points, its lowest since April 13.
- The capesize index .BACI slipped 144 points, or nearly 6.5%, to 2,084 points, its lowest in more than 10 weeks.
- Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $1,198 to $17,283.
- Meanwhile, Dalian iron ore futures rose on Tuesday with the market gaining for the first time in four sessions on expectations of lower U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, although fears of a global recession capped gains.
- The panamax index .BPNI fell for the 11th consecutive session, shedding 28 points, or over 1.1%, to a 19-week low of 2,441 points.
- Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $254 to $21,965.
- However, the world's biggest cotton producer India on Tuesday extended a deadline for duty free imports of the fibre until Oct. 31 from the earlier cut-off date of Sept. 30, as the sowing of the fibre crop was delayed in some regions due to patchy monsoon rainfall.
- The supramax index .BSIS fell 17 points to its lowest in 20 weeks to 2,265 points, extending a losing streak since June 23.
- Falls in the smaller segments of panamax and supramax vessels were attributed to low levels of demand and piling tonnage availability by Thomas Chasapis, analyst at Allied Shipping Research, in a note dated Monday.
