São Paulo – Soy exports from Paranaguá Port rose 19.34% in the first seven months of this year. A total of 4.3 million tonnes were shipped through the port from January to July 2009, against 3.6 million tonnes in the same period last year. According to the port management, the accumulated value is already greater than the total registered in 2008, when shipments totalled 4.1 million tonnes of grain.
In the trade balance of the port complex, soy shipments lead the ranking of main products contributing to foreign trade revenues, with US$ 1.6 billion, that is, 21.7% of the value generated in the first seven months of the year. Last year, in the same period, grain export revenues were US$ 1.4 billion, which represented 11.2% of participation.
Administration of the port system shows that soy shipments contributed in a general manner to the growth of exports of solid grain from Paranaguá Port, a sector that includes chaff, maize and sugar, as well as soy.
Between January and July this year, there was growth of 8.7% in solid grain exported. Shipments totalled 9.1 million tonnes in the accumulated result for those months in 2008, against 9.9 million tonnes in the same period in 2009.
Optimism
Despite the good performance of soy, with higher prices on the foreign market this crop, some exporters are more optimistic with regard to other commodities. "We have had a slight increase in exports of soy and should close 2009 with expansion when compared to last year. With regard to maize, sugar and chaff, the growth of foreign sales should be greater, due to exports of these products through Paranguá Port having risen," said the operating coordinator at Bunge, in Paranaguá, Ricardo Malucelli.
To export soy, Bunge uses the Public Export Corridor. With regard to other cargo, the company turns its own structure to the operation. Currently, Bunge has an ecstatic storage capacity of 260,000 tonnes for grain at Paranaguá Port.
Main destination
A study promoted by the Statistics Sector of Paranaguá and Antonina Port Authority (Appa), shows that China is still the main destination for soy shipped from Paranaguá, with 46% of participation. Of the total volume of soy exported in the first seven months of this year, 2.2 million tonnes supplied the Chinese market, maintaining the country tendency as main consumer of Brazilian soy.
In coming days, Paranaguá Port should export over 108,000 tonnes of soy. Vessels "Sun" and "Trident Endeavor" should take cargo to Chinese ports, like Taijin, considered the main free trade port in China.
"Despite the economic crisis, the global demand is still heated, thanks, mainly, to the participation of China on the buyer market," said Otmar Hubner, Rural Economics Department (Deral) engineer for the Secretariat of State for Agriculture and Supply,.
*Translated by Mark Ament
