By Lise Alves, Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Movement of goods at Brazil’s busiest port, Santos, set a record in June, totaling 9.8 million tons and 5.4 percent above that registered in June of 2013 according to CODESP (São Paulo State Port Authority). Exports during the month increased by 8.1 million to 6.9 million tons, while imports registered a decrease of 0.7 percent, to 2.8 million tons.
The highlights among exported goods were the shipments of soybean (2.3 million tons) up by 18.9 percent, coffee (132.0 thousand tons) up by 47.2 percent and gasoline (146.8 thousand tons) increase of 50.6 percent.
Container shipments increased by 15.4 percent during that time, totaling 325,000 TEUs. Among imports, the increase of 58.6 percent of petroleum gas and 632 percent of naphtha imports were the strongest for the month.
For the first semester of 2014, CODESP registered a decline by 1.6 percent in the port’s movements in relation to the same period last year, to 52.9 million tons, despite the increase by eight percent in containers being delivered and shipped out of the port. The decline in exports of sugar by 14.8 percent, corn by 52.5 percent and pulp by 27 percent during the first semester of 2014 contributed significantly for the overall decline of exports during the period.
A total of 2,549 vessels docked at the Santos Port during the first semester of this year. According to the MDIC (Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade) the port moved an estimated US$57.2 billion worth in goods during the first semester, 25.3 percent of all of Brazil’s foreign trade flows. Of this total, half (US$28.6 billion) came from exports, and half from imports.
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