Brazil’s Parana ports face unusually busy fertiliser import season

Ports in one of Brazil’s biggest farming states are handling an unusual amount of fertiliser after importers rushed to secure supplies amid fears that sanctions on Belarus and Russia would curtail trade, the Parana port authority said.

Brazilian importers are keen to secure crop nutrient supplies even if they have nowhere to store them as Brazil relies on imports for 85 percent of its fertiliser needs.

Paranagua, one of the South American country’s busiest ports, has 18 vessels waiting to unload nearly 600,000 tonnes of fertiliser products from various origins, the Parana port authority said in a statement.

“The port’s entire 3.5 million tonnes of storage is already in use, hindering unloading work,” stated Luiz Garcia, president of Parana Ports.

Paranagua’s fertiliser unloading speed, which hinges on factors such as the importers’ commercial strategy, good weather and the availability of storage, has been challenged by a surge in traffic, 12 days of rain in March and finite storage space.

Garcia also stated that a queue of 18 vessels represented an improvement from recent weeks, when as many as 30 ships were waiting to unload fertiliser at Paranagua, a publicly owned port.

“The situation is more controlled now,” Garcia said of Paranagua, which receives cargos from 30 countries, including China, Russia, Canada and Belarus.

A vessel which has been waiting the longest to unload fertiliser there arrived on February 21, the statement said.

Shipping data shows orders being fulfilled and fertiliser vessels heading from Russia for Brazil, potentially allowing a normal grain planting season, even as sanctions hit a major supplier nation.

“Paranagua boasts Brazil’s most efficient infrastructure to unload fertilisers,” Garcia said. “With the port currently capable of unloading an average of about 40,000 tonnes in a day. The storage space around the port area is privately-owned.”

Parana ports including Paranagua and Antonina handled 3.068 million tonnes of fertiliser imports in the first quarter, a 26 percent rise, and some 31.5 percent of Brazil’s total fertiliser imports, the port authority stated.

For more information visit www.portosdoparana.pr.gov.br