"The market is a little more disappointing than we'd been expecting at this moment," said Hashim, speaking to Seatrade Global on the sidelines of the inaugural Saudi Maritime Congress.
When asked whether the slow third quarter across the dry bulk markets was caused by a reduction in Chinese coal imports, Hashim pointed the finger over to South America.
"I don't think it's the Chinese, it's Brazil; they are not shipping enough. Look at China, in the first nine months of this year they imported 100m tonnes more of iron than last year, but all of that extra 100m tonnes came from Australia.
"In tonne-mile terms is only a fourth of that of cargo from Brazil. It always used to be that it was split equally, so of that 100m tonnes, 50m would come from Australia and 50m from Brazil. If that was the case then this year would have been a fantastic year."
Prompted to suggest the cause of the change, Hashim saw the shift as a matter of Brazil's weakness, rather than Australi's strength. "I think Vale made too many mistakes, bought the wrong ships at the wrong time."
Khalid Hashim will be a panellist at the Sea Asia Global Forum at Sea Asia 2015 in Singapore 21 - 23 April.
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