The Port of Recife registered a 60% increase in cargo handling during the month of March. The anchorage handled 162,469 tons of goods in the last month, while in the same period last year, the movement was 101,381 tons. Among the most transported products were corn, barley, fertilizers, wheat and barley malt. One of the reasons for the high movement, according to the President of Porto, Carlos Villar, was the anticipation of orders by companies, to prevent the arrival of the coronavirus, due to what was already happening in the international market. Villar also points out that another factor that justifies the positive number, are the harvests, mainly of corn, barley and wheat, which usually happen between October and March in the South of the country, in Uruguay and Argentina. “The demands of each location are important to determine cargo movements”, justified Villar. In March, the main movements were corn, with 32.9 thousand tons, followed by 29.6 thousand tons of soda, 25.7 thousand tons of wheat, 25.7 thousand tons of fertilizers and 16.4 thousand tons of malt of barley. Corn, for example, is imported and is destined for poultry and feed factories in Pernambuco and Paraíba. Barley malt, on the other hand, is used as raw material for the Pernambuco brewing hub, concentrated in Igarassu and Itapissuma. The Port of Recife also released the balance sheet for the first quarter of 2020. The numbers demonstrate a stability in port activity, when compared to the same period in 2019.
Source: Folha PE / Global Fert