It was only five years ago, but it feels like a different era. Roger Agnelli, the then chief executive of Vale, the Brazilian mining company, had just taken delivery of the first of an order of 35 Valemax ships, the biggest dry bulk carriers ever built. The vessels, bought primarily to ship iron ore to a voracious China, were so large that each one could carry iron ore sufficient for the steel to build the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco three times over.
“We are living through our best days?.?.?.?I strongly believe that even better days are ahead of us,” said Mr Agnelli in 2010. But Vale’s fortunes would soon begin to fade. Mr Agnelli was ousted a year later, and China temporarily banned the ships from its ports on safety grounds. In the first quarter of this year, the company reported its worst financial performance in six years.
Vale’s problems are symptomatic of a broader malaise, with emerging markets slumping in the first quarter to their weakest performance since the 2008-09 crisis. China’s appetite for metal ores and other resources is on the wane, Brazil’s once-buoyant economy is in recession, Russia is in crisis and several smaller countries are also suffering declining growth and capital outflows.