By Nayara Figueiredo and Ana Mano
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s chemical fertilizer imports reached 4.15 million tonnes in June, up 17.4% year-on-year, while the amount paid for the products nearly tripled in the period amid global shortages, showed data from the Department of Foreign Trade (Secex) this Friday.
The average price went from US$324 per ton in June 2021 to US$792.8 last month and, considering the increase in imported volume, the result was a total value of US$3.29 billion, against US$1.14 billion a year ago. year before.
Also according to Secex, imports of raw fertilizers reached 363.9 thousand tons, versus 127.3 thousand in the year. The average price soared to $119.8 per tonne from $88 in the same comparison. As a result, the total amount paid by the country for this item more than quadrupled, to 43.6 million dollars.
Following the sanctions against Belarus and Russia, which are among the world’s biggest fertilizer suppliers, some feared Brazilian farmers could face a shortage of fertilizers to nourish major crops.
But Agriculture Minister Marcos Montes has said that the Brazilian government’s negotiations with the Russians have helped to avoid a shortage – Russia has still been Brazil’s main supplier this year -, ensuring sufficient supply for the planting of grains in the 2022 harvest. /23, which starts in September.
Brazil imports around 85% of its fertilizer consumption.
“With imports of 4.15 million tonnes in June and an expected reduction in the use of fertilizers in the next soybean crop, farmers are guaranteed,” Jeferson Souza, an analyst at Agrinvest Commodities, told Reuters.
According to data compiled by Souza, this is the highest volume of imports for the month of June in the last five years, and also marks the second consecutive month this year in which imports exceed 4 million tons.
The war in Ukraine has created uncertainty about the availability of fertilizer supplies for agriculture, but Brazilian buyers have accelerated the closing of deals to make sure there is no shortage of product.
(Edited by Roberto Samora)
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