Business Blog: Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

One of the economic consequences of the twin booms in China and India — especially when combined with good overall health in the world economy — is higher prices for commodities. Prices for things like steel, rubber, and cement have trended upwards, which in general is good news for the companies that offer these products. (Just look at the fine results recently reported by steel kingpin ArcelorMittal.)

Turns out it also means much higher prices for shipping all those tons of commodities, as explained in this item from Foreign Policy’s Passport blog. So while the obvious beneficiaries of the boom in commodities have been companies like Rio Tinto, the boom certainly hasn’t hurt the feelings of shippers like Maersk, either.