Coffee shipments at the Port of Santos are harmed by logistical chaos

Faced with intense logistical problems, coffee shipments at the Port of Santos have gone through a new low. From January to November 2021, exports totaled 27.7 million 60-kilogram sacks, 11.2% less vis-a-vis the same period of the previous year. In addition to a lower harvest, the lack of containers and loading space on ships have contributed to a reduction in the total number of exports of the commodity. The problem will follow in 2022.

The data that inform this notion is from the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé). The organization points out that the volume of coffee shipments also dropped across the country in the order of 10%, to reach 36.3 million sacks shipped in the 11 months of 2021.

This scenario results from the logistical bottlenecks affecting global maritime trade, as well as crops yielding smaller harvests in Brazil, explains Cecafé’s president Nicolas Rueda. “In addition to lower harvest rates, we had to continue dealing with strenuous competition for available containers, successive booking cancellations, cargo rollovers, and extremely high freight rates. This scenario is worrying, as industry experts indicate that it should linger into 2022 due to the large volume of agricultural products accumulated in the ports of Brazil, which will impact the performance of our shipments.”

Of all the Brazilian coffee sold to the international market, 76.4% of it leaves the country through the Port of Santos. Also, another 23 port complexes transport the product, including the ports of Rio de Janeiro, which accounted for 16.7% of shipments by having sent 6 million sacks, and Vitória (ES), with the shipment of 1 million sacks, representing 2.8% of exports.

The dispute over containers mentioned by Rueda can be felt in the numbers. While in the first 11 months of 2020, 112,399 TEU were used, in the same period of 2021, the supply of the metallic boxes was only 102,051 TEU.

According to Rueda, in addition to the logistical problems that “are part of the ‘new normal’ framework”, it is important to remember that the production chain has been making its transition to the 2021/22 harvest, which has a lower cycle than the previous harvest.

See a track record of coffee exports via the Port of Santos in the last three years. Data are from DataLiner:

Brazilian Coffee Exports (HS 0901) via Port of Santos | Jan to Nov 2019-2021 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Destinations

In 2021 year-to-date, Brazil exported coffee to 121 countries, having the United States as its main consignee for having purchased 7 million sacks, a volume that is nonetheless inferior to the volume recorded between January and November 2020. This amount represented 19.5% of shipments from the country.

Germany, whose representativeness is 16.3%, imported 5.917 million bags (-12.9%), thus occupying second place in the ranking. Next comes Italy, having purchased 2.614 million bags (-9%); Belgium, with 2.454 million (-27.6%); and Japan, with the acquisition of 2.241 million bags (+5.7%).

Source: A Tribuna

To read the full original article visit:

https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/caos-logistico-prejudica-embarques-de-cafe-no-porto-de-santos

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