Sugar Export Boom: TCP Achieves 368% Increase in Early 2024 Shipments

In the initial two months of 2024, TCP, the company managing the Paranaguá Container Terminal, achieved a new milestone in sugar shipments. DataLiner platform data shows a 368% increase in TEUs exported compared to the same period in 2023, some 1,422 TEUs, equivalent to 37,268 tonnes of the product.

The result comes on the heels of TCP’s strong performance in sugar handling last year, exporting 151,786 tonnes or 5,745 TEUs, a volume 12,677% above that recorded in 2022, marking the highest percentage increase in single-segment operations at the terminal.

Following the trends of 2023, the primary state of origin for sugar shipped by TCP in early 2024 is São Paulo (65.4%), followed by Paraná (25.7%), and Mato Grosso do Sul (8.7%), while the top destination for the product is the African continent (59.4%). The novelty lies in the second and third places in imports: the Americas (22.6%) and Asia (17.9%) swapped positions among the top buyers.

Commonly transported in the “break bulk” model in the holds of bulk carriers, the export of sugar in containers presents some significant advantages, as highlighted by TCP’s Commercial, Logistics, and Customer Service Manager, Giovanni Guidolim:

“Our partnership with warehouses located in the terminal’s rear area allows Paranaguá to offer quality and personalized services to exporters, such as storing bulk cargo in an appropriate place, container stuffing process with maximum quality, and batch verification. Transporting sugar in containers allows selling and exporting cargo in smaller volumes than the break bulk method, facilitating trade to certain destinations. Additionally, it offers ease in loading and unloading, unaffected by weather variations during operations, a situation that can affect operations when using the break bulk method.”

The following chart shows the volume of sugar shipments (hs 1701) recorded in Paranagua each month from January 2022 to January 2024. The data is from DataLiner.

Sugar Exports from TCP | Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The significant numbers achieved by TCP in this first bimester are part of a broader scenario. According to data from the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), sugar exports from Brazil until the third week of February had surpassed the total volume seen a year prior.

Brazil is currently the world’s largest sugar producer, accounting for nearly 50% of the global commodity trade last year, while other major producers, such as India and Thailand, had their crops affected by climatic adversities.

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