China’s continued appetite for bauxite is helping to drive up ton-mile demand for the dry bulker sector, according to research by Torvald Klaveness.

While the volume of imports for March was largely unchanged from a year ago at 5.5mt, shipments are having to be sourced from further away.

“Ton-mile of Chinese bauxite and alumina imported in March was up 26 % year-on-year,” said head of Klaveness Research Peter Lindstrom.