(Bloomberg) -- Prices charged by reinsurers for annual contractsrenewed this month declined for a second straight year amid anabsence of costly disasters, Guy Carpenter said.

“Reinsurance pricing fell in many segments, affecting almost alllines of business and geographies, continuing recent renewaltrends,” the reinsurance brokerage unit of Marsh & McLennanCos. said in a statement today. “A major factor driving marketconditions at the renewals was the lack of costlycatastrophes.”

Reinsurers such as Munich Re, Swiss Re AG and Hannover Re, whichhelp primary insurers cover the costs of damage claims, are seekingto shore up earnings as lower losses from natural disasters and agreater availability of capital weigh on prices. Global insuredlosses declined 25% in 2014 to about $30 billion, the lowest infour years, the broker said.

The Guy Carpenter Global Property Catastrophe ReinsuranceRate-on-Line Index, a measure of pricing in the industry, fell 11%in recent renewals.

“Excess capacity marked by the influx of traditional andalternative sources of capital along with low investment returnsand less costly catastrophic events in recent years will continueto make the reinsurance marketplace a challenging landscape,” GuyCarpenter said.

Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, said in a separatestatement today that insurance industry losses from naturalcatastrophes declined 21% to $31 billion last year.

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