BDI is a number issued daily by the London based Baltic Exchange. Not restricted to Baltic Sea countries, the index provides an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a time charter basis, the index covers Handysize, Supramax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain.

Because dry bulk primarily consists of materials that function as raw material inputs to the production of intermediate or finished goods, the index is also seen as an efficient economic indicator of future economic growth and production.

Clarkson data shows that total trade in dry bulk commodities, which also include cargoes such as grains, steel, sugar and scrap metal, will expand about 4% to 4.67 billion tonne this year, about the same as last. The capacity of the fleet of vessels able to haul the commodities will increase 5.1%, it anticipates.

Clarkson data shows that owners are contending with a dry-bulk fleet whose capacity expanded about 80% since 2008, outstripping about a 40% trade expansion over the same period.