Trade in dry-bulk commodities is projected to grow by 4.5 cent in 2014, led by a robust projected growth in iron-ore trade and sustained by the continued momentum of infrastructure development in China, the recovery in the United States, and the favourable monetary policies in Japan.
Infrastructure-related trade supports growth in dry-bulk commodities –a trend that is likely to continue.
Trade generated from such investments accounted for 45.0 percent of merchandise trade in 2013 and is projected to double by 2020 as investment in productive capacity increases (Shipping and Finance, 2013a).
Infrastructure-related imports are expected to grow the fastest in the emerging economies of Viet Nam, Malaysia and Indonesia, followed by India, Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey (HSBC Bank, 2013).
As for China, and while it accounted for most of the infrastructure investments over the past decade, there remains scope for more infrastructure-related imports given its expanding energy and public transportation requirements (Shipping and Finance, 2013b).
This entails some major implications for seaborne trade flows, in particular iron-ore, coal, minerals and metals trade.