Volume more than quadruples that of the same period in 2023
In the first two months of 2024, TCP, the company that manages the Paranaguá Container Terminal, reached a new milestone in sugar exports. Data from the DataLiner platform shows a 368% increase in the volume of TEUs (20-foot-long containers) exported compared to the same period in 2023, totaling 1,422 TEUs, equivalent to 37,268 tons of the product.
The result comes on the heels of TCP’s excellent performance in sugar handling last year, when it exported 151,786 tons or 5,745 TEUs, a volume 12,677% higher than that recorded in 2022, which is the largest percentage increase in single-segment operations at the Terminal.
Following the trends of 2023, the main state of origin of the sugar shipped by TCP at the beginning of 2024 is São Paulo (65.4%), followed by Paraná (25.7%), and Mato Grosso do Sul (8.7%), while the largest destination of the product is Africa (59.4%). The novelty comes in second and third place in imports: America (22.6%) and Asia (17.9%) have reversed positions among the main buyers.
Commonly transported as “loose cargo” in the holds of bulk carriers, an operation known as “break bulk”, exporting sugar by container has some important advantages, as TCP’s commercial, logistics and customer service manager, Giovanni Guidolim, points out:
“Our partnership with the warehouses located in the terminal’s retro area allows Paranaguá to offer the market quality and personalized services to exporters, such as storing loose cargo in an appropriate place, a container stuffing process with maximum quality and batch checking. Transporting sugar by container allows the cargo to be sold and exported in smaller volumes when compared to break bulk, which makes it easier to sell to certain destinations, as well as making it easier to embark and disembark, since they are not affected by climatic variations at the time of the operation, a situation that can affect the operation when using the break bulk modality.”
The expressive figures achieved by TCP in this first two months reflect a broader scenario. According to data from the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), sugar exports from Brazil up to the third week of February had already exceeded the total volume recorded for the entire month of 2023.
Brazil is currently the world’s largest sugar producer and accounted for almost 50% of global trade in the commodity last year, while other major producers, such as India and Thailand, had their harvests damaged by adverse weather conditions.
