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A Tale of Boom and Bust: What Drives Dry Bulk Freight Rates?
As events in the past year have amply demonstrated, volatility in shipping markets is very much back after a period of relative tranquility. Thus, the Baltic Exchange Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs, nearly quadrupled from January to June 2020 as the shocks of COVID-19 first ravaged, then propelled international trade in bulk commodities. Even one-time events, such as the Suez Canal blockage in late March 2021, suddenly roiled global shipping markets.
Working Paper
Dry Bulk Shipping and the Evolution of Maritime Transport Costs, 1850-2020
We provide evidence on the dynamic effects of fuel price shocks, shipping demand shocks and shipping supply shocks on real dry bulk freight rates in the long run. We first analyze a new and large dataset on dry bulk freight rates for the period from 1850 to 2020, finding that they followed a downward but undulating path with a cumulative decline of 79%. Next, we turn to understanding the drivers of booms and busts in the dry bulk shipping industry, finding that shipping demand shocks strongly dominate all others as drivers of real dry bulk freight rates in the long run. Furthermore, while ...
Working Paper
What drives commodity price booms and busts?
What drives commodity price booms and busts? We provide evidence on the dynamic effects of commodity demand shocks, commodity supply shocks, and inventory demand shocks on real commodity prices. In particular, we analyze a new data set of price and production levels for 12 agricultural, metal, and soft commodities from 1870 to 2013. We identify differences in the type of shock driving prices of the various types of commodities and relate these differences to commodity types which reflect differences in long-run elasticities of supply and demand. Our results show that demand shocks strongly ...