Worlds largest producer of Aluminum

Rank Country 1. VR China 2. Russia 3. Canada 4. The USA 5. Australia 6. Norway 7. Brazil 8. India 9. France 10. South Africa 11. Germany 12. Venezuela 13. Bahrain 14. Spain 15. New Zealand 16. Great Britain 17. VAE 18. Tadschikistan 19. The Netherlands 20. Iceland ... World 1970 135 1.623 972 3.607 204 527 56 161 381 53 488 70 78 119 88 140 68 127 75 39 1980 350 2.244 1.075 4.654 304 662 261 185 432 80 791 328 171 387 156 374 149 176 258 74 1990 860 2.040 1.567 4.048 1.235 871 931 433 326 160 720 599 350 355 260 290 180 160 210 94 2000 2.830 2.884 2.373 3.668 1.769 1.030 1.270 665 701 674 644 560 400 365 330 304 300 300 302 226 2003 4.300 3.200 2.800 2.750 1.877 1.192 1.000 798 716 665 660 592 532 389 370 343 340 300 278 266

10.320 16.064 22.378 23.331 25.291

This is a list of countries by steel production from 2007 to 2009, based on data provided by the World Steel Association, accessed in August 2010[1]
Crude steel production (million tonnes):
Rank World 1 Country/Region 2007 1,351.3 2008 1326.5 500.5 198.0 118.7 68.5 91.4 55.2 53.6 45.8 37.1 33.7 26.8 30.6 19.9 18.6 17.2 17.9 2009 1,219.7 567.8 139.1 87.5 59.9 58.1 56.6 48.6 32.7 29.8 26.5 25.3 19.7 15.7 14.3 14.2 12.8

People's Republic of China 494.9 European Union 209.7 120.2 72.4 98.1 53.1 51.5 48.6 42.8 33.8 25.8 31.6 20.9 19.0 17.6 19.3

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Japan Russia United States India South Korea Germany Ukraine Brazil Turkey Italy Taiwan Spain Mexico France

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Iran United Kingdom Canada South Africa Poland Malaysia Austria Belgium Egypt Australia Netherlands Thailand Saudi Arabia Czech Republic Kazakhstan Argentina Venezuela Slovakia Indonesia Finland Sweden Romania

10.1 14.3 15.6 9.1 10.6 6.9 7.6 10.7 6.2 7.9 7.4 5.6 4.6 7.1 4.8 5.4 5.0 5.1 4.2 4.4 5.7 6.3

10.0 13.5 14.8 8.3 9.7 6.4 7.6 10.7 6.2 7.6 6.8 5.2 4.7 6.4 4.3 5.5 4.2 4.5 3.9 4.4 5.2 5.0

10.9 10.1 9.0 7.5 7.2 6.0 5.7 5.6 5.5 5.2 5.2 5.0 4.7 4.6 4.1 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.1 2.8 2.7

38 39 40

Belarus Luxembourg Greece Others

2.4 2.9 2.6

2.6 2.6 2.5

2.4 2.2 2.1

29.8 (est.) 28.3 (est.) 23.3 (est.)

What is Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) ?

The BDI is a good leading indicator for economic growth and production. After all, it doesn't deal with container ships carrying finished goods. It deals with the precursors to production: bulk carriers carrying building materials like cement, grain, coal, salt, Fertilizers and iron ore, alumina ore etc. Unlike stock and bond markets, the BDI "is totally devoid of speculative content," says Howard Simons, an economist and columnist at TheStreet.com. People don't book freighters unless they have cargo to move. Because the supply of cargo ships is generally both tight and inelasticit takes two years to build a new ship, and ships are too expensive to take out of circulation the way airlines park unneeded jets in the Arizona desertmarginal increases in demand can push the index higher quickly. And significant increases in demand can push the index sharply higher. That's precisely what happened earlier this fall. As this chart shows, the Baltic Index doubled in September and Octoberan unprecedented jump.

Impact of 2008 financial crisis

On 20 May 2008 the index reached its record high level since its introduction in 1985, reaching 11,793 points. Half a year later, on 5 December 2008, the index had dropped by 94%, to 663 points, the lowest since 1986;[8] though by 4 February 2009 it had recovered a little lost ground, back to 1,316.[9] These low rates moved dangerously close to the combined operating costs of vessels, fuel, and crews.[10][11] By the end of 2008, shipping times had been already increased by reduced speeds to save fuel consumption, but lack of credit meant the reduction of letters of credit, historically required to load cargoes for departure at ports. Debt load of future ship construction was also a problem for shipping companies, with several major

bankruptcies and implications for shipyards.[12][13] This, combined with the collapsing price of raw commodities created a perfect storm for the world's marine commerce.

A rare scene: The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas (2010) stocking may be on the light side this year

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Baltic Index

mathew

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI),

"Logarithmic Chart"
20 day exponential average in red. 200 day exp. avr. green

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI)Recent,

exponential average in red.

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI)Recent, "Logarithmic Chart" 200 day ROC and 20 day ROC (Rate of
Change) exponential average in red.

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) & Gold (gold)

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) & Gold (gold) "Logarithmic Graph"

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) & CRB Index (yellow)

Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) & Crude Oil (red)