Fire in Brazilian Port of Santos Burns Tonnes of Raw Sugar Friday Oct 18,2013

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. 

Port authorities said that the fire began on Friday Oct 18,2013 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 terminal affected by the fire belongs to Brazilian sugar giant Copersucar

The authorities in the port of Santos said it took six hours to bring the fire under control.

The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

The port is located some 80km (50 miles) from Sao Paulo

 

Brazil is the world's main sugar exporter, accounting for nearly half of international sales.



Note
Four other sugar terminals are operating normally, port authorities said.
Analysts say Brazil has enough port capacity to carry on with its usual export levels.