São Paulo – Despite the decline in March, Brazil’s fertilizer imports were up 7.8% in Q1 this year from Q1 2015, the National Fertilizer Association (Anda) reported last week. From January to March, Brazil imported 4.19 million tons. In March alone, the country imported 1.1 million tons of fertilizer, down 8.6% from February of last year.
The Arab countries are suppliers of fertilizers to Brazil, and its sales to the country went up substantially from 460,000 tons in Q1 2015 to 749,600 in Q1 2016, a 62% increase, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. In March alone, fertilizer exports from Arab countries to Brazil soared 41.8% from 173,000 tons to 245,700 tons.
The leading Arab supplier of fertilizers to Brazil was Qatar, at 328,800 tons shipped, more than half the total amount Brazil purchased from the region. The second leading supplier was Morocco at 93,300 tons, and the third was Saudi Arabia at 92,800 tons. In the month of March, the biggest Arab suppliers were Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Morocco, in that order.
Although it does produce fertilizers domestically, Brazil is also a major importer due to the size of its crops. In Q1, 5.9 million tons of fertilizers were purchased by end consumers in the country, up 6.8% from Q1 2015. In March alone, consumption stood at 1.7 million tons, down 1.9%. Brazilian industries produced 2 million tons in Q1, down 7.1% from Q1 2015, and 666,900 tons last month, down 3.8% from March 2015.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
