World: Flow of commodities influenced by currency rates as always

The flow of commodities has always been influenced strongly by currency rates. As world trade is dominated by the U.S. dollar, even the EU, Canada and Australia have profited from weaker trends of their currencies, most of all, however, the BRIC countries, H. M. Gauger GmbH said in their June report.

The British pound had weakened after the Brexit announcement, and this month the Brazilian real lost 8% of its value within one day after corruption charges against the president of the country; it recovered slightly to minus 4.5%. The Brazilian "devaluation" led to a huge selling wave of soybeans and to a lesser extent of maize, industry sources reported.

On the freight side the BDI, the Baltic Dry Freight Index, has recovered by 54% in a year’s time. The most important freight rate change has been in the container transport to and from Asia. After the bankruptcy of the Korean Hanjin line, several mergers and a concerted TEU withholding action, freight rates shot up by several 100%.

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