IMPORTANT NEWS
Record Lineup of Ships Waiting for Brazil Sugar May Worsen as Rains Return.
Rain in Brazil next week may disrupt sugar loading at the countryâ"%2s two biggest ports, threatening to worsen a record lineup of ships waiting to export the sweetener.
A record 115 vessels were waiting to load 3.53 million metric tons of sugar at Brazilâ"%2s six main ports yesterday, according to consultant Santos Associados Consultoria Ltda. and shipping company Unimar Agenciamentos Maritimos Ltda. The backlog is more than twice as big as last year, when 46 ships were waiting to export the sweetener.
Loading may be further delayed as a cold front moves into southern and southeastern Brazil, bringing a week of rainfall starting Aug. 1, Celso Oliveira, a meteorologist for Somar Meteorologia, said today by telephone from Sao Paulo.
â"-Every day we miss means the lineup is heading for a new record,â" Nicolle Alves de Castro, a commercial assistant for Santos Associados, said today in a telephone interview from Santos, Brazil.
Ports are forced to halt sugar loading amid rainfall because the precipitation ruins the product.
The Port of Santos, Brazilâ"%2s largest, is able to load 213,000 tons of sugar a day, and the Port of Paranagua, the countryâ"%2s second biggest, can load 50,000 tons a day.
Latin Americaâ"%2s largest economy ships 54 percent of the worldâ"%2s sugar exports, up from 20 percent a decade ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Bloomberg News – USA
Brazil Agriculture Ministry Says Prices for White and Raw Sugar to Drop.
Brazilian Agriculture Ministry said raw and white sugar prices will fall over the next two years.
White sugar will decline to $490 a ton by 2011 from $540 now, while raw sugar will drop to $390 a ton from $480 now, Luis Job, coordinator of the ministryâ"%2s sugar and ethanol department, said today in an e-mailed statement.
Bloomberg News – USA