Jeffrey Landsberg, the managing director of Commodore Research, says this is good news for panamax and supramax bulkers since these segments tend to be the primary beneficiaries of high demand for thermal coal and spikes in electricity production over extended periods of time.
“Recently released data shows that India produced approximately 82.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in December, 5 billion kilowatt hours (6%) more than was produced in November and 5.8 billion kilowatt hours (8%) more than was produced in December 2012,” he said.
Of the 82.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity produced last month the dry-bulk market researcher claims that approximately 71.1 billion kilowatt hours came from thermal coal-derived generation, which is now the new monthly record.
“The 71.1 billion kilowatt hours thermal coal-derived electricity produced in December is 5.9 billion kilowatt hours (9%) more than was produced in November and 3.8 billion kilowatt hours (6%) more than was produced in December 2012,” he added.
In an email exchange with TradeWinds, Landsberg also pointed out that India’s previous thermal coal-derived electricity production record was set in May of 2013 when the four-week total topped approximately 70.2 billion kilowatt hours.
The new development will likely come as welcomed news to the operators of supramax and panamax bulkers, which currently seeing day rates of around $12,400 and $12,500 on average, respectively, in the spot market, according to the Baltic Exchange.
You can read more about the trends that are driving the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) by clicking on the links located under the Related section to the right of this article or in the TradeWinds Daily Dry Bulk Chartering Report, which you can find HERE.
