The Pacific Supramax freights have remained largely buoyant over the past week with average rates for NoPac rounds gaining some US$ 750-1,000 week-on-week to settle at rates of around US$ 10,500 with reports of as much as US$ 11,000 in negotiations in tonnage of 58,000 dwt. Indeed, backhaul rates have already been reported at this level on Ultramaxes ex-ECI back to the Continent. Indonesia rounds are also climbing back quickly compared to weeks past with upwards of US$ 14,500 daily not available on tonnage of 58,000 dwt (ex-WCI) and as much as US$ 16,000 on tonnage of 62,000 dwt. Unlike the larger Supras and Ultras, eastern Handysize rates have not increased noticeably over the past week, although they have not decreased either. This stability is what owners have come to expect and last few days have born that out. N.China delivery of 38-42,000 dwt tonnage to CJK or S.Korea is about as likely to secure about US$ 10,250 daily as it was a week earlier. Steel cargoes are being shipped on tonnage of 42,000 dwt ex-S.China to the UKC-Med at up to US$ 13,000, brokers say. Trips from the Singapore-Japan area to Southeast Asia on standard Handy tonnage are fetching mid US$ 9,000s.
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Off the Continent, an Ultramax was taken for a trip to the East at US$ 20,000 daily, and at US$ 15,500 daily for a trip tip to West Africa on Supra tonnage. Ultra scrap TC rates are hovering around US$ 13,500-14,000 daily. The Black Sea looks stable with 30,000mt booked from Romania to the East Med at TCE of US$ 13,500 daily. Rates are still sounding okay from the Med where clinker charterers took an Ultra at US$ 18,000 daily to West Africa. Grain charterers are linked with a 30,000mt cargo from Romania to the Adriatic at a TCE of 13,500 daily. A 36,000 dwt is rumoured as done at US$ 11,000 daily for 5-7 months of trading. 
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The holidays don’t seem to have ended just yet for the northern European trades, at least in terms of business activity, with cargo demand being assessed as sluggish across the board and open tonnage starting to pile up along nearly every standard route. This has provided some advantageous rate levels for the charterers who have waded into the market in the early days of 2023 with inter-Baltic rates in the westward direction having lost as much as EUR 2/ mt from their levels of mid-December as general cargoes of 5,000mt are able to secure EUR 24-25/mt from Klaipeda to ARAG whereas the same would not have fallen under EUR 26/mt in the ‘normal’ days of Q4-2022, shipbrokers assert. Ice class requirements and stable bunker prices are shoring up freights to some degree, but the lack of steady business, on the whole, is giving charterers plenty of tonnage options to pick and choose from. Brokers doubt this very quiet market climate will continue for much longer, but those opportunistic few that have cargo to move are taking advantage of the situation. Northbound trips from Spanish Med to ECUK are fetching high EUR 30s/mt at upwards of EUR 38/mt on 3-4,000mt agri-prod cargoes while the opposite direction is giving closer to EUR 35/mt.
Expected yields for French soft wheat in the 2022/ 23 season have been lowered by French agency Agreste due to lower planting area. The agency lowered its forecast by 432,000mt this month to 33.69 Mt. High yields in the Hauts-de-France region have been offset by lower national crop area, down by 6% YoY.
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Off the Continent, the owners of a 38,000 dwt vessel have been testing charterers at a rate of US$ 29,000 daily for a trip via the Baltic Sea to the eastern Mediterranean, which ended up failing to attract charterers who were talking US$ 24,500. From the Black Sea area, loading in some Russian ports is now laden with an additional EWRI cost of around US$ 80,000 daily on top of the already much higher premium rates, owners are holding out for. Grain charterers continue quoting two cargoes from Romania to Tunisia, for which they aim at US$ 34-35/mt. A 30,000 dwt vessel is said to have been fixed at US$ 25,000 daily for a trip to the US Gulf.