Bulk sugar exports at the main Brazilian ports of Santos and Paranagua are running normally, favored by clear weather along the southeast coast but long waiting times for loading vessels are still the norm.

Although down with other markets, sugar futures have gotten support through July from strong global demand and long waits to load to be shipped from the world's largest producer and exporter of the sweetener.

Latin America's largest port of Santos, Brazil's main sugar exporter, is loading bulk sugar normally on Wednesday, after rain slowed loading on Tuesday, a source at the port said. He could give no estimate of the size of ship line-up waiting to load sugar off Santos.

Rains interrupt loading of dry bulk agricultural commodities at Brazilian ports because they lack covered skip-loaders to keep the ship holds from taking on water during heavy rain, which can hurt the quality of the cargo.

Two independent sugar shipping reports are due out later on Wednesday that will give an account of the vessels off the main Brazilian ports waiting to take on white and bulk sugar.

Paranagua, Brazil's No. 2 sugar port to the south of Santos, had resumed bulk raw sugar loading earlier this week with sunny weather, after rain stopped the movement of VHP sugar through the port late last week, port authority spokeswoman Nunia Bianco said.

She said ships arriving at the port could expect a 22-day wait before loading, however, compared with a normal wait of around 15 days this time of year. The port has received some ships that had been redirected from Santos where the line-up and wait was longer, Bianco added. (Reuters)