Market Morsel: Peace in the middle east to help Aussie ag?

Market Morsel
The cost of shipping is extremely important to Australian agriculture. We export most of our commodities, and these days we import most of our inputs.
We have spoken in the past about the Houthi attacks on shipping on the Red Sea. The Houthis began attacking Red Sea shipping as a show of solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas conflict, initially targeting vessels linked to Israel. Backed by Iran, the group used these attacks to disrupt global trade routes, challenge Western influence, and demonstrate their military capabilities while leveraging the conflict for greater regional and international visibility.
The Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping disrupted global trade by targeting one of the world’s most critical maritime routes. These actions led to increased shipping costs, higher insurance premiums, and rerouting of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, significantly extending transit times.
This caused freight rates to jump dramatically, including an increase month on month in January of 131% in container rates.
Last week a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas. There is hope that this may lead to a reduction in attacks on the Red Sea shipping lane. However, there is some speculation that they will still attack Israeli flagged vessels.
The attacks have been declining over the past six months, as seen in the third chart below, and this ceasefire may result in more ships returning to the Red Sea route, which will cause a reduction in freight rates.
Lower freight rates are good for our exports as they reduce the geographic barrier to getting our products: grains, meat or fibre.