A fire destroyed all of the warehouses of the world’s biggest sugar trader at Brazil’s Santos port.  The fire burned 180,000 tons of sugar – almost 10% of Brazil’s monthly exports, and stopped Copersucar’s operations putting 10 million tons of export capacity offline for six months or more.  Nearly 20% of the world’s sugar exports move through Copersucar’s trading desk which will now have to scramble to secure temporary terminal space in order to meet its global obligations to its customers.  Copersucar’s rivals in Brazil will likely step in and fill the gap in supply while also benefitting from the effect the fire has had on the global price of sugar.  ICE March raw sugar prices increased more than 6% to a one-year high upon news of the fire.
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