Traders confirm that freights have fallen sharply on the sea-river-going trades with new grain demand having dried up rather suddenly and chaos reigns in some corners amid shifting seasonal patterns as well as rising uncertainty from trade hit by US sanctions. Others expect the weaker ruble to eventually boost trade from the region. Freights from Azov lost as much as US$ 2/mt over the past week as charterers continue to apply pressure to rates and (most) owners are more than happy to comply. Yeisk/Marmara rates have fallen into the lower US$ 20s/mt amid rumours that they are already in the high teens of US$ 18-19/mt. Most rates on this run, however, are still hovering in the range of US$ 22-24/mt, brokers say. Nikolayev/Marmara grain is flat at US$ 20/mt.
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