SAO PAULO, July 31 (Reuters) — The queue of ships waiting to load sugar at Brazilian ports grew by another 10 vessels in the last week to 123 ships by July 28, from 113 a week ago, shipping agent Williams said.

Strong demand for sugar at the peak of Brazil's cane harvest led to unusually long waits to load. Importers are eager to rebuild stocks after poor harvests in Asia and as Moslem countries prepare for the holy fasting month of Ramadan on August 11.

Bulk sugar carriers take a day to a day and a half to load if the weather stays dry, making it difficult for ports to clear the queue when they are already loading around the clock.

Traders said ships are now typically waiting a month to berth.

At the port of Santos, the main Brazilian port for sugar exports, there were 86 ships waiting to load compared with 79 a week earlier. At the No. 2 sugar port Paranagua there were 36 ships queuing, up from 32 vessels last week.

Both Santos and Paranagua ports say the queues reflect exceptional demand rather than inadequate port facilities.

Sugar shipments are usually more evenly spread over the course of the year, and the ports say their facilities are dimensioned for that more regular pace.

''Santos port has excellent infrastructure and capacity to handle large volumes. We can warehouse one month's (sugar export) cargo,'' the port's spokeswoman Celia Souza told Reuters.

She said there were no problems on land with the arrival of sugar from the mills amid the spike in demand.

''We haven't had a problem with the arrival of trucks. It's more a question of what is out at sea,'' Souza said.

Brazil is at the peak of the cane harvesting period, which will wind down by around October, but shipping agencies say the queues are likely to persist for weeks to come.