Port of Salvador Experiences Tenfold Cotton Trade Growth in Three Years

There is a significant window of opportunity for a substantial increase in cotton movement through the Port of Salvador, believes Grégoire Nègre, a cotton trader from ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd. He discussed the company’s experience using the port during the X Logistics Seminar.

The company is one of the top five global leaders in the cotton market and a global leader in cocoa and coffee movement. The executive mentions that the Port of Santos will always be an essential outlet for agricultural commodities but emphasizes that operations there are already very close to maximum capacity, unlike in Salvador.

“We don’t have another option as good as Salvador,” he believes. According to him, in 2021, the company saw a throughput of 158 containers in Salvador between June and October, reaching 774 in 2022, and now, in 2023, it has already recorded 1590. He highlights the increase in cotton stuffing. The Wilson Sons group is expected to increase from 17 containers per day to 35. He emphasizes industry projections that Brazil, currently the world’s second-largest exporter, should take the top spot from the United States in a maximum of five years.

The chart below shows containerized cotton exports (hs 5200 -5210) from the Port of Salvador between Jan 2019 and Sep 2023. The data is from DataLiner.

Cotton Exports from Salvador | Jan 2019 – Sep 2023 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

High hopes for Bahia

The company has installed an area with a capacity for storing over 300,000 bales of cotton in Luís Eduardo Magalhães, in Western Bahia. During the harvest season, about 100,000 bales are moved, he says. “The problem is that until recently, almost nothing was exported here through the Port of Salvador,” he comments. Grégoire Nègre highlighted the sophistication of Brazilian rural producers.

“Around the world, we offer our agronomists’ services to producers, but here, the producers already have such a high technical level that we changed our mode of operation and started focusing on financial services,” he explains. “We have already negotiated with Brazilian producers the prices for the 2025 harvest; I can assure you that it is the only market in the world where you will see this,” he says.

Source: Correio 24 Horas

Click here to read the original publication: https://www.correio24horas.com.br/colunistas/donaldson-gomes/movimentacao-de-algodao-pelo-porto-de-salvador-cresce-10-vezes-em-tres-anos-1123

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