Report: Brazilian Sugar Shipments

Brazil shipped a total of 1,934,572 tonnes of sugar (1.61 million raw/322,800 whites) in November from both the center-south and the north- east. This compares with 2,259,197 tonnes shipped in October and 1,745,186 tonnes shipped in November of last year, reports Jenkins Sugar Group.

Center-South

Center-south shipments in the month totaled 1,577,680 tonnes, of which 1,353,780 tonnes were raw sugar and 223,900 tonnes were white sugar. The compares with 2,076,102 tonnes shipped last month (1,820,502 tonnes of raws and 255,600 tonnes of whites) and 1,355,328 tonnes in November 2008 (1,266,578 tonnes of raws and 138,750 tonnes of whites).

The major destinations for the raw sugar exports were as follows:

• Black Sea: 96,880 tonnes (1,711,062 total in this crop [3.386 million last yr])
• India: 203,995 tonnes (2,857,569 total in this crop [1.003 million last yr)
• Saudi Arabia: 144,945 tonnes (898,643 this crop [1.145 tonnes last yr])
• Canada: 116,500 tonnes (606,580 this crop [696,446 tonnes last yr])
• UAE: 101,200 tonnes (923,164 this crop [885,191 tonnes last yr)
• Bangladesh: 161,870 tonnes (707,120 this crop [677,662 tonnes last yr])
• Nigeria: 138,910 tonnes (835,725 this crop [1.304 million last yr])
• Indonesia: 123,000 tonnes (272,400 this crop [79,000 tonnes last yr])

These destinations account for about 78.5% or the raw sugar shipped in the month. The major buyers on the month continue to be around the Indian Ocean with the Indonesians joining in as Thai high-pol sugar is currently in very short supply. The Black Sea has lagged as a buyer this year due to their higher beet crop and maybe some reduction in consumption due to the credit crunch. The Russians are expected to be bigger buyers in 2010 due to their 500,000-tonne lower beet crop but buyers are holding back as the import duty declines by $25 to $140 on January 1st 2010. The one usual buyer that did not feature was Malaysia.

This brings total exports from the center-south May-November crop to 13,029,139 tonnes, of which 11,759,469 tonnes was raw sugar and 1,269,670 tonnes was white sugar. This compares with 10,308,434 tonnes (9,478,731 tonnes of raws and 829,703 tonnes of whites) shipped in the same period from the last crop. Therefore, sugar exports from this crop are 2,720,705 tonnes ahead of last year, with raws 2,289,738 tonnes ahead and whites are 439,967 tonnes higher. These additional exports compared with last year indicate that the Brazilians have shipped the 1.9 million tonnes of additional production to December 1st as reported by Unica last year.

They have also shipped over 800,000 tonnes of their starting sugar stocks, which appear to have been built up from the 2007/08 crop. In the balance of the crop the Black Sea buying is likely to increase as discussed above. The Indian off-take may decline to some extent as they have mainly been taking raws to refine with their domestic sugar production, while this timing may become critical. The demand may slow from Indonesia as Thai high-pol raws become available. The demand that is likely to increase is from toll refiners due to potential off-take of whites in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Iraq.

North East

Sugar shipments from the north-east totaled 356,892 tonnes (257,992 tonnes raws/98,900 whites) compared with 183,095 tonnes shipped in October and 389,858 tonnes shipped in November last year. This brings total shipments from the September-November crop to 599,677 tonnes compared with 659,937 tonnes shipped in September-November 2008. Within the November shipments a total of 53,779 tonnes of raw sugar was shipped to the US to bring the total from this crop to 73,669 tonnes.

For more information, contact Jenkins Sugar Group.