Russian fertilizer manufacturers are looking for alternatives to keep exporting to countries like Brazil, despite the recommendation by Vladimir Putin’s government that work be suspended due to Western sanctions in retaliation for the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Moscow released the recommendation, citing that it would jeopardize “millions of people” and the world’s food security.
The aim was to put pressure on major shipping companies such as Maersk, which have stopped operating in Russian ports for fear of the binding effects of sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries.
The movement lit a red light in Brasilia. President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has maintained that Brazil must remain neutral in the conflict in Ukraine in the name, among other things, of maintaining the flow of Russian fertilizers to the country — 23% of the inputs consumed come from Russia and 3%, da also under Belarus sanctions.
The Ministry of Agriculture reported that there was still no impact assessment of the measure.
According to sheet heard in Moscow, businessmen in the sector understood that the export ban is just a recommendation at this point, so if there were alternatives for using ships from countries willing to face the risk of suffering sanctions, they will be used.
China and India, which refuse to condemn Russian action in Ukraine, are at the center of the talks. On the other hand, operations in ports, once the ships are available, tend towards normality, or almost.
Acron, leader in the Russian fertilizer market, which sells 32% of its production to Brazil and other countries in Latin America, operates two ports. One of them in Russia and two in Estonia, a NATO country (Western military alliance) that opposes the Kremlin, but so far has not stopped this business.
As there are about three months of fertilizer, nitrogen and phosphate stocks in Brazil, the expectation in the diplomatic environment is that the situation will be resolved before reaching a critical point. But political pressure on Bolsonaro continues, especially if there is a price increase due to the scarcity of inputs, which had already been rare due to the breakdown of logistics chains in the pandemic.
The president pledged his image to it, on a trip to visit Putin in Moscow a week before the war, and left without any agreement signed on the matter. As it voted for the UN resolution that condemns the invasion, but criticized the sanctions and did not adopt any, Brazil remains outside the list of countries considered hostile by the Kremlin.
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