How Brazil out farmed the American farmer
After a half-century of dominance, the U.S. is losing its edge in agriculture to a booming, high-tech Latin American powerhouse. Its secret weapon? Soyabeans. A big swath of soya-producing lands that stretch between the Andes and the Atlantic forest and from northern Argentina to the southern flanks of the Amazon basin. Soylandia, as this immense region might be called, is almost entirely unknown to Americans and indeed much of the Western World. But it may well be the future of one of the world’s most…
Brazil is an Agricultural Powerhouse
Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar, coffee and orange juice, as well as the largest exporter of beef, soybeans and poultry. One in four grains consumed in the world is produced in Brazil. More than 5 of every 10 glasses of orange juice drunk worldwide come from Brazilian oranges. Brazil’s beef cattle herd is 8 times the size of Australia’s. Brazil’s rise to agricultural superpower status has been underpinned by rapidly increasing efficiency in utilising production factors,…
Record Brazilian soybean supply set to pressure competition in 2022
Record acreage leads to unprecedented output Brazilian beans price competitive as real weakens Brazil to remain world’s top supplier on robust China demand B10 mandate unlikely to dampen crush momentum The Brazilian soybean sector is forecast to produce record-breaking volume in the crop year 2021-22 (September-August), likely pressuring major rivals the US and Argentina. The National Supply Company, or Conab, and the US Department of Agriculture expect Brazil’s soybean production at 142.8 million…
The Fiagro and new opportunities for investment in Brazilian agribusiness
The government’s aim with Fiagro is mainly to relieve public coffers of the pressure from subsidizing interest rates for agriculture production by encouraging private investors Enacted on March 29, 2021, Federal Law 14.130 creates a new type of investment fund in Brazil, dedicated to investments in the agribusiness production chain. The new legislation is quite flexible in terms of the asset classes in which an agribusiness investment fund, or Fiagro, can invest. The government’s aim with Fiagro is mainly…
Restrictions on the ownership of Brazilian rural real estate property by foreigners
Historical background Since 1971, the acquisition of rural estate properties by foreigners in Brazil is ruled by Federal Law No 5.709/71, and its regulatory Decree No 74.965/74 (‘Law 5.709’).According to such legislation, the acquisition of rural property by a foreign individual domiciled in the country (‘foreign individual’) and a foreign company authorised to act in Brazil (‘branch’) is not prohibited but merely limited to certain caps described in the law. The restrictions also applied to Brazilian…
Global crop supply fears send soybeans prices to the highest in six years
Soybeans traded at the highest level in more than six years as increasing demand from top importer China and dry weather in the major producing areas of South America spur growing concerns over global supplies. Prices have climbed more than 40 percent since March after China started snapping up cargoes to feed a massive increase in hog numbers as the country recovers from African swine fever. Now the development of southern hemisphere crops in Brazil and Argentina has been threatened for weeks by lack…
Brazil already has its first online store selling agricultural inputs
This year 2019 started the first year of operation of InstaAgro – first online store authorized to sell agricultural inputs via this medium in Brazil. It is a new startup of the AgTech segment, with Brazilian origin and North American and European capital. Through its innovative business model and state-of-the-art technology, InstaAgro is an online store that markets inputs and agricultural implements directly to the Brazilian rural producer and is already authorized by the regulatory agencies in…
Brazil agribusiness group seeks bankruptcy protection
Privately owned Brazilian agribusiness group Itaquere has filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure 482 million reais ($127 million) of debt, according to a letter from management seen by Reuters. In the letter dated March 21, the group, based in Brazil’s top grains state Mato Grosso, blames a prolonged economic crisis, along with adverse climate conditions and currency swings, for its financial woes. The letter was signed by the group but not by any particular executive. Itaquere and MLuz, named in…
Brazilian Farmland – Is it a buy?
In recent years, Brazil has solidified its role as a global agricultural powerhouse. It has become the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, coffee, and sugar, as well as the second largest overall food producer on the planet. Over the past 15 years, Brazil has increased agricultural production by 156 percent with overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from agriculture reaching an all-time high in the first quarter of 2017.1 The agricultural sector as a whole accounts for nearly 6 percent of Brazil’s total…
Brazilian farmers in Mato Grosso satisfied with the soybean planting progress
Brazil’s Mato Grosso farmers are happy about their soybean planting progress this year, as they have finished sowing almost 90% of their soybean acres and are expecting an early harvest at the end of December. “The weather is so good this year, as rain comes to the state early and keeps going on almost every day,” said Daniel Latorraca Ferreira, director of the Institute of Economics and Agricultural Mato Grosso, (IMAE). “This good weather will help the crop development, and we will be able to start…
Brazilian agribusiness still drawing investor interest
Brazilian agribusiness has investors interested The slump in commodity prices and the weaker real are attracting foreign funds interested in Brazilian agribusiness. International players want to place bets despite the political crisis, which some investors actually see as an even more fertile ground for deals. The opportunities sought by US funds like Amerra Capital Management and Proterra, and by Brazilian funds such as Pátria, range from land deals to stakes in high added-value companies in animal health…
