The queue of ships to carry sugar in Brazil more than doubled in the last week, signaling volumes as high as those recorded in a period in which the country had a monthly record of exports, said the president of consultancy Datagro, Plinio Nastari, to Reuters. The statement was made after Brazil embarked in the first two weeks of this month 1.57 million tonnes of the product, already exceeding the volume shipped in the entire month of May 2019, according to government data. “As a sign of the increase in demand for Brazilian sugar, the queue for sugar shipment more than doubled this week, from 27 to 56 vessels scheduled to load 2.642 million tons, a volume four times higher than that programmed exactly one year ago,” he said Nastari, founder of the consultancy. The crushing of Brazil’s sugarcane crop has recently started, with the sector prioritizing sugar, which has gained more advantage over ethanol, whose market was affected by the impact of measures to combat the coronavirus. In the case of the sweetener, the dollar at historic highs favors shipments abroad. According to Nastari, the last time that the shipping schedule reached this mark, in September 2017, Brazil broke a monthly export record, with 3.5 million tons. Among the main destinations, China stands out, which should absorb 14% of the volume scheduled for shipment, or 367 thousand tons, followed by Egypt, with 8.8%, and Indonesia, with 7%. Shipments of sugar (raw and refined) from Brazil reached 5.85 million tonnes in the first four months of the year, compared to about 4.5 million in the same period last year, according to government data. Brazil will increase sugar production by 18.5% in the 2020/21 harvest, to 35.3 million tons, with a greater destination of cane for the production of sweetener, according to the National Supply Company (Conab). According to Conab, the devalued real against the dollar, the anticipated sales of a large part of production, a drop in world production in the 2019/20 harvest and the expectation of expansion of Brazilian production in the 2020/21 season contribute to the increase in Brazilian exports in this period. year. Around 80% of the sugar to be exported by Brazil has already been negotiated in advance, with the sector taking advantage of higher prices for the commodity between October 2019 and February 2020, before, therefore, the more severe impacts of the coronavirus.
Source: Reuters/Portos e Navios