Brazil's main port of Santos moved 5.8 million tonnes in general cargo for the month of March, down 6 percent from the same month in 2004, the Port Authority Codesp said. March exports totalled 3.9 million tonnes, down nearly 9 percent from March last year, when the port registered a record. It was the first month since November that exports contracted. Imports were stable at 1.8 million tonnes compared with the same month in 2004. The export of orange juice grew 75 percent to 139,316 tonnes during the month at Latin America's largest port.
Sugar, normally the port's top export item by volume, fell 22 percent to 568,892 tonnes in March compared with the same month last year, Santos port data showed.
Santos soybean exports, also one of the main export items, were down 20 percent in March to 891,355 tonnes. Soymeal exports fell 43 percent to 181,781 tonnes for the month.
Soy exports typically rise from March when harvest makes its way from the interior to the ports along Brazil's coast. But producers have been holding on to their crops awaiting better prices and a fall in the real against the dollar.
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