Dec 06, 2013
Copersucar Terminal at Santos to Start Exporting Sugar in January
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Copersucar indicated that they will start exporting sugar at a reduced volume starting in January from their sugar terminal at the Port of Santos that suffered a devastating fire at the end of October. Copersucar represents 47 sugar/ethanol mills in southern Brazil and is the largest sugar and ethanol exporter in the world.
In a press release, the company indicated that emergency repairs will allow it to start exporting small volumes of sugar from its crippled terminal next month. The volume of sugar exports from their terminal will be 250,000 tons per month starting in January and it will increase to 330,000 tons per month beginning in May. During 2014, the company is expecting to move nearly 4 million tons of sugar through the revamped terminal.
The Copersucar complex is not expected to be fully rebuilt and functional until February 2015 when the annual export capacity will be 10 million tons of sugar. The fire in October that destroyed or heavily damaged five of the six warehouses at the terminal, came after a two year R$ 400 expansion project which was inaugurated in June. The expansion project was designed to double the capacity of the terminal to 10 million tons per year (approximately 830,000 tons per month), but that volume now will not be reached until 2015.
Between November 2013 and March 2014 the company expects to export 3.2 million tons of sugar, 700,000 from its own terminal and the remainder from other terminals at the Port of Santos and at the Port of Paranagua. The company has indicated that they have been able to meet all their export commitments through temporary arrangements with other terminals at the two ports.