Many countries, especially in Asia and South America, always have problems with the logistics in their value chains due to the corona crisis.
Brazil has now, according to official figures, the second most confirmed coronavirus infection worldwide with more than 610,000 cases. In the port of Santos, the largest port in Latin America, all loading activities have now been stopped for 14 days after several ship crews have tested positive for COVID-19. There was a similar problem in the port of Paranagua, where soybean shipments stalled. Everyone involved is extremely nervous and it has become impossible to load the ships quickly. Supply shortages are expected.
A whole flotilla of ships waiting to load 3 million tons of sugar is now waiting in Santos. Last year, there were only 15 ships on this date that had to load 700,000 tons of sugar. The typical waiting and loading time of a ship otherwise takes five days, now it is 29 days.
Weak sugar cane harvests in India and Thailand forced international buyers to switch to Brazil. But there are also massive problems with COVID-19 in India.Some buyers have tried to get the cargo through other ports, but this is expensive because registering in one port costs a lot of money.
Despite a smaller sugar cane harvest in India, the subcontinent could benefit from Brazil's logistics problems. The government in Delhi now wants to sell large surpluses of sugar from previous harvests with grants.
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH
