Latin America’s largest port, located in the southeastern Brazilian city of Santos, posted a record first-quarter net profit as the federal government prepares an auction to privatize it by the end of this year.

The Santos port on Friday reported quarterly net income of 135.2 million reais ($26.30 million), up 91% from a year earlier as it handled more agricultural cargo, the local authority said.

Santos Port Authority (SPA) Chief Executive Fernando Biral told Reuters that the port has also reached a cargo handling record for the period, up 9.6% to 38.67 million tonnes.

Operating net revenue rose 23.6% to 312.96 million reais.

“We have a very large market share in agricultural products and commodities. What we see driving the port’s growth in the future is the continued growth of agribusiness,” Biral said.

He added that the port has not yet been affected by a series of COVID-19-driven lockdowns in China, a major buyer of Brazil’s agricultural output, but noted that this could happen “if the crisis lasts for a long time.”

Brazil’s government is on track to privatizing the Santos port by year-end.

Former Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio de Freitas said in late March that such a move was a priority for President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, and that it had the conditions to carry out an auction by November.

Cargo handling in the port is expected to grow by 6% in 2022, according to SPA, with annual net profit seen reaching 500 million reais.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Mark Porter)