São Paulo – Cargo throughput at the Santos Port stood at 6.893 million tonnes in January, down 13.6% from December. According to the port’s manager Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo, the slowdown was mostly the result of a decline in exports, even though imports decreased as well.
Exports stood at 4.288 million tonnes in January (62.2% of total throughput), while imports stood at 2.604 million tonnes (37.8% of throughput).
The types of cargo whose volumes decreased the most were: sugar (1.8%), soy bean, bran and oil (17.1%), maize (46.7%), ethanol (52.4%), fuel oil (41.6%) and citrus juices (26.6%). The decline in imports was mostly due to iron ore (down 100%), sulphur (down 44.9%) and charcoal (down 28.0%).
Container throughput kept increasing and was up 3%. Ship traffic was down 11.5%, due to larger ships being used, according to the port’s management.
A total of US$ 9.2 billion worth of goods were shipped through the Port of Santos in January. The terminal remained the leading port in Brazil, having accounted for 25.5% of US$ 36.1 billion worth of goods shipped from the country’s ports in January.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
