Brazil sugar awaiting loading at ports drops 25% in week
The amount of sugar awaiting loading at ports in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, declined 25 percent over the past week, according to Williams Servicos Maritimos Ltda., as demand slowed, Bloomberg reports.
About 918,433 metric tons of the sweetener were waiting to be loaded onto ships at Recife, Maceio, Paranagua and Santos, the country’s biggest port, figures e-mailed yesterday from the Recife, Brazil-based shipping agency showed. That compared with 1.22 million tons a week earlier.
Brazil’s center south, the main growing region, will produce a record 34.05 million tons of sugar in the 2012-13 season, up from a previous forecast of 32.7 million tons, industry group Unica said on Dec. 20. There are a lot of offers to sell raw sugar in Brazil and not enough demand, Luiz Carlos dos Santos Jr., head of sugar brokerage and operations at SA Commodities in Santos, said in a report e-mailed on Jan. 8.
“Center south Brazil’s 34 million tons-plus production for 2012-13 exceeded all expectations, and with good progress on Northern Hemisphere beet and importantly cane crops, it’s hard not to be bearish,” Tom McNeill, a director at Brisbane, Australia-based researcher Green Pool Commodity Specialists Pty., said in a report e-mailed yesterday.
Brazilian sugar from the center south for immediate delivery is trading at a discount of 0.3 cent to 0.4 cent a pound to the price on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, according to Green Pool. Sugar fell 16 percent last year as global supplies were forecast to outpace demand for a third year, according to the International Sugar Organization in London.
“Center south Brazil raws are facing an uphill battle,” McNeill said, referring to the discounts against the exchange. Raw sugar for March delivery gained 0.8 percent to 18.87 cents a pound by 5:21 a.m. on ICE in New York.
