Freight rates for grain shipping from Ukraine's Odessa ports continue to decline - brokers

MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Freight rates for grain shipping from the deep-water Odessa ports for Handysize and Panamax vessels have continued to drop this week, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Ukrainian Grain Association and Atria Brokers.

"As of January 25, rates for shipping 6,000 tonnes of corn by coasters from the Reni and Izmail ports remained at the level of last week: towards the eastern coast of Greece at $32-$34/tonne, the Eastern Mediterranean at $38-$40/tonne, the eastern coast of Italy at $41-$43/tonne, Israel at $43-$46/tonne, Spain at $46-$48/tonne, and Spain's Seville at $48-$50/tonne. Freight to Marmari fell by $1/tonne to $28/tonne," brokers said.

Freight for shipping corn by Handysize vessels towards Mediterranean coast of Spain went down by $2-$3/tonne to $38-$40/tonne, Mediterranean coast of Egypt by $2/tonne to $35-$36/tonne, Italy and Tunisia by $1-$2/tonne to $37-$39/tonne and $40-$42/tonne, respectively.

Freight rates for shipping corn by Panamax vessels from the Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk ports to China dropped by $5-$6/tonne to $70-$72/tonne, and to the Mediterranean coast of Spain by $1/tonne to $44-$46/tonne.

The rates for shipping corn by barges to Constanta (Romania) went down by 1-2 euros/tonne to 20 euros/tonne, while the rates for sunflower to Ruse/Silistra (Bulgaria) dropped by 4 euros/tonne to 26 euros/tonne, Atria Brokers said.