Week 10, 2018 (Mar.5-Mar.9), the International Grain Future Freight (IGF) reported the Panamax forward freight rate of U.S. Gulf-Tianjin route (soybean) from Jun. to Jul. in 2018, and the trend is shown in the chart below.

Up to now, the soybean reaping in Brazil from 2017 to 2018 has been completed 48%. It fell behind when compared with that in the same period last year (56%), but a little higher than average for the past five years (46%). Thus, the soybean production is expected to break the record due to the yield this year hit a high record and its overall acreage increased.

In terms of the shipping market, the future freight rate kept $34.25/ton at the beginning of the week and then experienced three times of slight increase from Mar.7 (Wed.) to Mar.9 (Fri.), finally being closed at $34.63/ton, increasing 1.09% compared with that on Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9).