SMALLER Asian flour mills prefer containerised grain and show a reluctance to return to bulk shipments despite the recent precipitous fall in bulk shipping rates fall, reports Reuters.
Asian millers started importing grains in shipping containers 10 years ago, using backhaul empties rather than bulkers.
Offering door-to-door service, containerised grain accounted for about 20 per cent of southeast Asia's grain and oilseed shipments in 2014, grain traders said, up from 10-15 per cent the year before.
But the rapid growth containerised grain is threatened by a record low fall in bulk rates, though smaller mills will mostly stick with containers, say traders.
The quoted rate for a 50,000-ton bulk vessel from the western United States to Port Klang in Malaysia has fallen to around US$20-$25 per tonne, while the container rate has held largely steady at $40-$45 a ton, shipping sources said.
The widening cost has pushed Vietnamese feed dealers back to bulk, traders said, but the gap would have to widen $10 - $15 a tonne to stop grain containerisation.
"The volume shipped in containers has kept more or less intact," said Voytek Chelkowski, managing director of Singapore-based freight consulting firm Seamind.
"A depressed bulk market may temporarily reduce the volume, the value and opportunities of this mode will keep this segment vibrant," Mr Chelkowski said.
Small mills want lower volumes than a bulk loads. International trading companies that bring grain on larger vessels often end up selling one cargo to several different mills, traders said.
"Shipping grain in containers means importers can control the unloading more and get the grain to off-port locations with greater ease," said Timothy Simpson, director of marketing and communications for North America at Maersk.
CONTAINER
24 April 2015 - 09:00
Convenience of boxed grain beats lower bulk prices, say Asian flour mills
SMALLER Asian flour mills prefer containerised grain and show a reluctance to return to bulk shipments despite the recent precipitous fall in bulk shipping rates fall,
CONTAINER
24 April 2015 - 09:00
Convenience of boxed grain beats lower bulk prices, say Asian flour mills
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