More than 70 ships were lined up at the weekend at the Brazilian port of Santos to load sugar for export – a queue that could take a month to clear, reported Reuters. Buyers worldwide were scrambling to get ahead of possible disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A large share of the global sugar trade has been looking to Brazil after poor harvests in India and Thailand. Unfortunately the bumper sugar harvest in Brazil coincided with the country becoming the country with the second-highest number of reported Covid-19 cases worldwide. The attempts by the Brazilian port to prevent even more cases coming in has led to three bulk carriers having loading operations suspended in recent weeks after crew members tested positive for the virus…
