According to the Baltic Exchange’s Weekly Market Roundups published on May 19, 2023:
LNG
There was life this week. Reported fixtures out in the Pacific suggested there may have been a rally in rates, but levels held at the recent lows. Japan reported that against this time last year LNG imports were down 18.7% in April alone, which makes for the second month in a row where imports have both fallen and been lower than the same month in the previous year. Summer is coming up fast and market participants have not expressed much hope of a rally in the short term and one vessel that was reported fixed had its ballast bonus back to Singapore only rather than load port, which is another damaging blow. Rates for BLNG1g fell from $43,262 to $37,114, a fall of $6,148 and the lowest rate published this year.
Out in the Pacific it has been a tough end to a tough few weeks. There were some FOB tenders offered out but with these picked up by traders long on tonnage little made it to the spot market. The EIA reported that there had been the same LNG export liftings in the week ending 17 May as the week prior as a result rates have not had much to react to. Levels have fallen again to yearly lows, shedding $357 and $4,253 respectively for BLNG2g and BLNG3g. Both routes look similar, with little going on and little to differentiate what we published at $35,134 for a Houston-UKC and $35,558 for Houston-Japan.
LPG
Despite holidays in many parts of Europe for Ascension Day, there was a flurry of activity towards the end of the week for all three routes. Out in the Middle East, where BLPG1 rose $5.572 over the week to publish at $99.429, some market participants had reported a fixture done at least $3-4 higher already, although its impact on the rest of the market was yet unknown. TCE earnings rose as well heading to $85,295, which is only a few thousand shy of this year’s high back at the end of February.
For BLPG2 and BLPG3 there were similar gains. The more liquid and busier route of Houston-Chiba BLPG3 saw a rise of more than $6 to close at $145.857, with most of that gain made on the last day. Delays still hamper the ships coming through the canal, which is affecting earnings but not by much. A Houston-Chiba TCE daily earning is about $75,419, a rise of $4,162 on the week. Houston-Flushing saw few movements and rates rose to close at $86.2 increasing $3.2, with a rise of $4,889 on the TCE to finish at $97,186. All three routes had positive sentiment and despite players being out for national holidays there was activity enough to give firm footing on a rising market.
