Geovana Pagel
São Paulo – Brazilian import, from the countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco, of raw materials used in the production of fertilizers has risen 17.7% from January to August 2003. This growth is justified by the good phase Brazilian agricultural production is going through. The sector is also responsible for increased sales of agricultural machinery.
According to data supplied by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), up to August 2003, Brazil purchased US$ 105.6 million in raw material for fertilizer production, against US$ 86.9 million imported in the same period in 2002.
The largest supplier is Morocco, which exported US$ 73.6 million to the country from January to August last year and, over the same period this year, sold US$ 93 million to Brazilian companies.
In the opinion of Carlos Alberto Pereira da Silva, the head of the Brazilian Association for Fertilizer Diffusion (ANDA), "agribusiness expansion and its productive capacity is due to fertilizer consumption incentives".
He went on to say that the products with the greatest influence on fertilizer consumption are, in order of greatness, soy, with a total average of 32% in the years between 2000 and 2002, corn, with 18%, sugarcane with 12% and coffee with 7%, totaling 70% of demand. Other grain represents 7%, and if added to the corn and soy results, the total grain demand adds up to 57%.
"The good grain harvest perspectives, without a doubt, represent a favorable factor for the increase of fertilizer use", says the head of ANDA.
Figures supplied by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show that the fertilizer growth is mainly due to an increase in sugarcane and grain production, especially soy (at which almost 35% of the total fertilizer produced is targeted), coffee, corn, and meat.
Industrial products used in agriculture have shown a 13.7% growth (rising 19.0% in the first half of 2002) and this growth can also be seen in the machinery and agricultural equipment sector (23.0%), and to the fertilizer sector (4.9%).
IBGE also says that these results were influenced by agricultural producer anticipated purchase of raw materials, and by a rise of the Brazilian real against the United States dollar, a fact that plays an important part in a sector greatly dependant on import.
Taking into account the total production and import volume in 2002, some raw materials, considered the most important in fertilizer production, are of great interest due to their percentile participation in total import. This is the case with sulfur (100%), potassium chloride (88%), ammonium sulfate (85%), triple superphosphate (61%), monoammonium phosphate (60%) and ammonium nitrate (59%).
Fosfertil Ultrafertil
For three years, Fosfertil Ultrafertil has been importing sulfur, as a commodity, from Saudi Arabia. According to Fosfertil supply manager Vilalba Trierveiler, the first contract was made through a Swiss intermediary. "Only this year did we begin buying directly from the Arabs", says Vilalba.
In 2002 the company maintained its position as one of the main suppliers of products for fertilizers, answering, in the Center-West and Southeast, to around 36.7% of phosphate-based nutrient sales, and 34.6% of nitrogenated nutrient sales.
The Fosfertil operating result last year was US$ 90.33 million, 88.7% over the result for the previous year, favored by the devaluation of the real against the dollar and by the improvement of company financial result. Fosfertil and Ultrafertil are still the main suppliers of phosphate-based nutrients and nitrogenated based nutrients to the fertilizer industry.
Sales directed to fertilizer producers represented 79.8% of total company revenue in the period, being the rest composed basically of products destined to the chemical industry.
Contacts
Fosfertil Ultrafertil
www.fosfertil-ultrafertil.com.br
Anda
www.anda.org.br
