Week 16, 2018 (Apr.16- Apr.20), 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.

Now, the soybean reaping in Brazil has been completed 91%, 6% higher than that of the last week and nearly 92% of that in the same period last year. The average speed for the past five years was 90%. The soybean reaping in Argentina has completed 39.6%, 23.6% higher than that of the last week. The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange estimated that the soybean production is predicted to 3.8 million tons, the same with the assessment of the last week. And it is estimated to be 1.6 million tons lower than that estimated at the beginning of the year and 1.95 million tons lower than that of the last year.

In terms of the shipping market, the future freight rate from Apr.16 (Mon.) to Apr.17 (Tues.) kept $35.19/ton, and then continued decreasing from Apr.18 (Wed.) to Apr.19 (Thur.). At the end of the week, it closed at $35.00/ton, decreasing 0.53% compared with that on Apr.13 (the last release day of Week 15).