Brazil's main port of Santos moved nearly 5.8 million tonnes in general cargo in April, a record for the month and up 7.6 percent from April in 2004, the Port Authority Codesp said. April imports of almost 1.6 million tonnes fell a fraction from last year, but exports surged 10.8 percent to 4.2 million tonnes from a year ago. The movement represents the best April in the history of the port, Codesp said in a weekend statement.
"The port is today in a growth trend with a systematic increase in movement of about 11 to 12 percent over the last five years," Codesp president Jose Carlos Mello Rego said.
Once again, sugar was a leader among the exports flowing through Latin America's largest port. Shipments of 909,725 tonnes rose 118 percent in April compared with a year ago.
The export of orange juice grew 77 percent to 163,612 tonnes during the month.
Soybean exports fell 13 percent for the month to 873,564 tonnes and meal shipments were flat at 313,453 tonnes.
Wheat imports for the month were up 449 percent at 80,045 tonnes.
The port moved 114,894 containers in April, up 10 percent from the same month in 2004.
Santos accounted for 27 percent of Brazil's $55 billion trade balance so far in 2005.
The port expects to move a record 75 million tonnes of cargo in 2005, up from Santos' biggest gain in history in 2004 when 67.6 million tonnes flowed through its docks.
"With the forecast injection of federal resources in infrastructure, the port will continue to attend to elevated demand, which given April's numbers should also grow this year," the port's commercial director Fabrizio Pierdomenico said.
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