Commodity Shuttle: For now, fertilizer arrivals are unchanged, but prices are skyrocketing

The entry of fertilizers into the domestic market, despite the war in Ukraine and Russia, did not slow down significantly this month. In the first six working days, 107 thousand tons were unloaded per day in Brazilian ports.

This volume shows a drop of 13% compared to March, but is still higher than the same period in 2021, according to data from Secex (Secretariat of Foreign Trade), this Tuesday (12).

In the first quarter of this year, the volume of fertilizers purchased by Brazil dropped to 7.9 million tons, 8% less than from January to March last year.

Spending on imports, however, shows how expensive this input has become in the foreign market.
Even with the 8% reduction in imported volume, Brazilian expenses with the product rose 110%, reaching US$ 4.4 billion in this first quarter. The average prices of imported fertilizers in April are 119% higher than in the same month of 2021.

The rise in prices does not only occur in the fertilizer sector, but in all commodities. Brazilian agriculture exported a smaller volume of the main products in early April, but revenues were higher.

The best example is that of coffee, which had a 24% reduction in the volume traded this month on the foreign market, but with the 79% rise in international prices, it earned 36% more.

The country starts the month with lower volumes of exports of soybeans, cotton, fruits, raw wood and coffee. All the prices of these commodities, however, rose sharply.

The highlights in exports are wheat and corn. In the case of the first cereal, the volume of the first six working days already adds up to 40 thousand tons. It is not common for the country to export so much wheat. In the first quarter, there were 2.21 million tons, 289% more than in the same period in 2021.

Foreign corn sales total 18 thousand tons per working day, well above the 6,543 in April 2021. Average prices rose 20%.

Meat continues to perform well in the foreign market, with the exception of pork. All saw an increase in volume, but pork prices dropped 13%. Beef, on the other hand, had an average price increase of 29%, and chicken, 23%.

End of harvest Sugarcane crushing in the 2021/22 harvest was 523 million tons in the center-south region, 14% less than in the previous one, according to data from Unica (União da Indústria de Cana-de-Açúcar).

Where herei Sugar production dropped 17% in the period, to 32 million tons. The delivery of hydrous ethanol by the plants was 16.6 billion liters, a volume 20% lower than the previous harvest. Anhydrous ethanol, on the other hand, rose to 11 billion liters, an increase of 13%.

Ethanol The price of hydrated, for delivery in Paulínia (SP) by the plants, rose to R$ 3.92 per liter this Tuesday. It is the highest value since November last year, the beginning of the off-season.