The amount of sugar waiting to be loaded at the main ports in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, fell 12 percent over the past week on slow demand, according to shipping agency Williams Servicos Maritimos Ltda, Bloomberg reports.
About 2.8 million metric tons of sugar was ready for loading yesterday at the ports of Vitoria, Paranagua and Santos, the country’s biggest, according to Williams Brasil in Recife. That’s down from 3.16 million tons a week earlier.
Sugar demand is waning after Copersucar SA, Cargill Inc. and ED&F Man Holdings Ltd. took delivery of about 1.1 million tons of the sweetener following the expiry of the July contract on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The trade houses have already scheduled vessels to take most of the sugar delivered, according to Naim Beydoun, a broker at Swiss Sugar Brokers in Rolle, Switzerland. There isn’t any new demand, he said.
Rains in May and June delayed the harvest in Brazil’s center south, the country’s main producing region, and shipments. Sugar output in center south fell 28 percent to about 4.9 million tons through June 15, according to Unica. The industry group will update harvest progress figures later today.
“We are hearing the problems that caused the strength in the run-up to the July expiry are now waning,” Thomas Kujawa, co-head of soft commodities at futures and options broker Sucden Financial Ltd. in London, said in a report e-mailed yesterday.
Vessels were waiting at Santos to load about 1.78 million tons of sugar as of yesterday, down from 2.09 million tons a week earlier, according to Williams Brasil data. In Paranagua, the second-biggest port, ships awaited loading of 982,820 tons of the sweetener, down from about 1.05 million tons a week earlier, the data showed. Most of the sugar delivered on ICE will be loaded in Paranagua, according to exchange data.
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