Brazil’s Hidrovias to build new fertilizer terminal in Amazon

Brazilian logistics firm Hidrovias do Brasil said it will invest 90 million reais ($27.3 million) to build a new fertilizer terminal in Miritituba in Para state in a further sign of the work going towards improving the infrastructure around Brazil’s northern ports.

Hidrovias expects to move 400,000 mt of crop nutrients this year, doubling its 2017 volume and plans to move 1.2 million mt by 2020.

The company moved 3 million mt of soybeans and corn in 2017 and is looking to handle 6.5 million mt of grain by 2020, with much of it harvested from Mato Grosso.

Brazil’s biggest grain state is roughly 1,000 km from Miritituba, but 2,000 km from the main southern ports of Santos and Paranagua.

Brazil has looked to develop the northern arc of ports as an alternative export location, with substantial investments in terminals made by large agribusinesses such as ADM, Bunge and Cargill.

The new fertilizer terminal in Miritituba is expected to be completed by 2019 with a storage capacity of 40,000 mt.