Brazil announces National Fertilizer Plan to reduce dependency on imports

The Brazilian government presented its National Fertilizer Plan, to reduce the country’s dependency on imports from 85% of its demand to 45% until 2050, on Friday.

Brazil is the fourth biggest importer of fertilizer and is responsible for 8% of the global consumption.

It imports 85% of its demand for potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen.

“We are not looking for self-sufficiency, but rather the ability to overcome challenges and maintain our agribusiness,” Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina said. “But we will have our foreign dependence greatly reduced.”

The plan includes measures that are already in place and were intensified after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, such as negotiation with exporter countries to make sure contracts already made are fulfilled, and searching for an increase in volumes shipped to Brazil.

Russia is the main source of Brazil’s fertilizer imports, followed by China and Canada. Last year, these countries represented 22%, 15% and 10% of Brazil’s fertilizer imports, respectively.

The plan also includes incentives to increase the use of organic fertilizers, financial investments in research and visits to producers across the country by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) to promote the increased efficiency in the use of fertilizers and inputs in the field.

Embrapa’s effort alone is expected to reduce Brazil’s demand by 20% in the 2022/23 crop, the government stated.

On Saturday, Cristina will travel to Canada to try to increase the country’s share in Brazilian fertilizer imports.