Week 27, 2016 (Jul.4-Jul.8), the International Grain Future Freight (IGF) reported the Panamax forward freight rate of US Gulf-Tianjin route (soybean) from Oct. to Dec. in 2016, and the trend is shown in the chart below:

The U.S. soybean of new season has reached into the flowering period and the rate of flowering is 22% which is better than last year. The good rate of soybean was 70% that is slightly lower than last week. There will be some rains in the planting area of soybean which may ease the drought caused by early hot weather. The good weather will be a big advantage for harvest.

In terms of the shipping market, the future freight rate remained strong. It slightly increased with $0.57/ton on Jul.5 (Tue.) and then the rate remained stable on the next three days. And the rate was closed at $27.88/ton with a continuous increase of 2.09% from Jul.1 (the last release day of Week 26).