Sugar should topple soybeans and becomes the most important product – whether agricultural or not – transported by the rail network of América Latina Logística (ALL) in the next few years. A partnership agreement recently signed by the Asian trading company, the Noble Group, should bring a movement of more than 1 million tones in São Paulo as from 2012, thereby boosting a total volume of sugar transported which in 2011 should already exceed the 10 million tones mark.
According to Leandro Martins Gasparin, commercial manager of the Sugar and Fertiliser Division at ALL, with this increase the traditional position of soybeans as the leading product on the company’s railways should soon change, even though the soy complex shall remain at the top thanks to the adding together of soy meal and soybeans. Both sugar and soy products are going through a favorable period in the international and domestic markets, with heated demand and high prices.
ALL and Noble already have an agreement in place for the transport of the grain, and a closer relationship based on the new partnership in the sugar area follows one of the logistics company’s favorite models. Noble shall make an investment of R$ 45 million (US$ 27.99 million) in a rail transfer terminal for sugar in the city of Votuporanga, in upstate São Paulo, and ALL, in exchange, shall ensure the transport of the product, mainly to the port of Santos, for export.
The terminal at Votuporanga shall only start operation in the middle of 2012. However, as the partnership between ALL and ALL com a Rumo Logística, controlled by Cosan, shall also generate a total volume of more than 8 million tones of sugar transported in 2011, Mr. Gasparian also estimates that the total volume of this commodity handled by the ports of Santos and Paranaguá, the latter in Paraná state, shall already be more than 10 million tones this year.
In this case we are talking about real tones, as the ALL executive points out. In the table shown here, with the volume of commodities handled within the structure of the company over the last two years, the indicator used is in ton-kilometers. The increase in clients’ investments in the railway is of strategic importance, says Mr. Gasparian. In Votuporanga, the static capacity shall be 75 thousand tones, while the initially forecast volume of 1 million tones may, according to ALL, later grow to 2.5 million tones.
Noble Brazil is honored to invest in this region, promoting economic growth and creating Jobs, says Maurício Mizhari, the President of the subsidiary, in a joint press release published by the companies. Approached by Valor, the Noble Group declined to grant an interview.
Last December, the Asian trading company shocked the world by acquiring the two sugar producing mills of the Cerradinho Group in the city of Catanduva, also in the State of São Paulo. Before this deal, the group already had two sugar and alcohol units at Sebastianópolis and Votuporanga. When these are producing at full throttle, they shall have a capacity to process between 9 and 10 million tones per harvest.
In the agreement reached with ALL, Noble has also agreed to repair 240 grain carriages for the transport of sugar, according to ALL.
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