There are hundreds of financial indicators which give a forecast of the international economies. One Index which is often not followed, but is important is the BALTIC DRY INDEX (BDI). The BDI tracks dry bulk cargo international shipping prices. It covers shipping prices of dry cargo such as coal, iron ore, grain, etc. The Index is issued daily by the London based Baltic Exchange. Google Baltic Dry Index for the daily Bloomberg chart and the Wikipedia. The BDI has four oceangoing dry bulk sizes for dry bulk transportation vessels:
| Ship Classification | Dead Weight Tons | % of World Feet | %of Dry Bulk Traffic |
| Capesize | 100,000+ | 10% | 62% |
| Panamax | 60,000-80,000 | 19% | 20% |
| Supramax | 45,000-59,000 | 37% | 18% w/Handsize |
| Handize | 15,000-35,000 | 34% | 18% w/Supramax |
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Why is the BDI important? According to Wikipedia on May 20, 2008, the BDI went to 11,793, the highest level since the BDI was organized in 1985. Six months later on December 5, 2008, the BDI had fallen 94% to 663, the lowest since 1986. The BDI recovered to 1,316 on February 2, 2009. The BDI gave a very clear indicator as the real nature of the financial collapse worldwide.
Currently, according to Bloomberg, the BDI since May, 2010, had one of the longest decline since November, 1995. The BDI fell 35 consecutive drops.
The news is on July 16, 2010, the BDI ended the longest decline in 15 years by rising 1.2 percent or 20 points to 1,720. The issue is has the BDI bottomed? If this is a turn around, is it a positive indicator for the international economy and what are the factors which created this increase in the BDI?