Brazil’s Sugar at Ports Drops 7.2% With Ships Bound for Malaysia

(Businessweek) – The amount of sugar awaiting loading at Brazilian ports fell 7.2 percent in a week and cargoes were bound for Malaysia and the Black Sea region, according to Williams Servicos Maritimos Ltda.

About 1.22 million metric tons of the sweetener was waiting to be loaded onto ships at Recife, Suape, Maceio, Paranagua and Santos, figures e-mailed yesterday from the Recife, Brazil-based shipping agency showed. That compared with 1.32 million tons a week earlier.

Ships headed to Malaysia were scheduled to carry 13 percent, or 160,000 tons, of all the sugar awaiting loading, the data showed. Vessels bound for the Black Sea area were to take 126,700 tons, with a further 124,420 tons destined for the United Arab Emirates, home to Al Khaleej Sugar Co., owner of the world’s biggest refinery for the sweetener.

The premium commanded by refined, or white, sugar over the raw variety climbed 8 percent over the past month, giving refineries more incentive to process. “Surprisingly high”demand for white sugar may signal stronger-than-estimated global consumption, according to broker Marex Spectron Group.

White sugar for delivery in March slipped 0.1 percent to $528 a ton by 9:47 a.m. on NYSE Liffe in London. Raw sugar for delivery in March fell 0.2 percent to 19.66 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of the sweetener, and Santos is the nation’s biggest port.

To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at  ialmeida3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at  ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.