A fire in Brazil’s largest port has burnt some 180,000 tonnes of raw sugar, damaging six warehouses and pushing international prices to a one-year high. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated. Brazil is the world’s main sugar exporter, accounting for nearly half of international sales. The terminal affected by the fire belongs to Brazilian sugar giant Copersucar. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24588150
Sugar prices in New York future markets went up by 6% when news of the fire broke, dropping later in the day.
Port authorities said that the fire began at around 06:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on a conveyor belt taking raw sugar into one of the warehouses.
They say this is the biggest fire in the history of the port of Santos, which exported 12.8 million tonnes of sugar in the first eight months of the year.
The port is located some 80km (50 miles) from Sao Paulo.
It was the gateway for much of Brazil’s coffee exports in the 19th and 20th century and also the main point of entry for millions of European immigrants who arrived in Brazil until the 1950s.