Fire at Brazil's Rumo Sugar Terminal Disrupts Operations
A fire at the Rumo sugar and grain terminal in Brazil's Santos port that started early Thursday restricted operations but caused no injuries, according to a spokesman for the company controlled by sugar and ethanol producer Cosan SA.
The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and the company expects to resume normal operations by midday Thursday, the spokesman said.
The fire started at a conveyor belt which connects two of Rumo's warehouse complexes and was controlled within an hour, after loading and unloading were temporarily suspended.
News of the incident in the world's biggest sugar producing nation triggered a more than 4 percent rally in sugar prices . Futures have pared back some early gains but are still trading up 2.5 percent at 11:00 a.m. local time.
Adailton D'Alves, operations technician at Rumo, said none of the sugar or grains stored in the terminal's various warehouses were affected.
The Santos Fire Department said their teams were still investigating.
It was the second fire at Rumo in two years and follows a string of blazes at the port, which is South Americas' largest.
Cosan had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Reese Ewing and Stephen Eisenhammer)
