MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Plenty of fertilizer for Brazilian farmers ahead of 2022/23 soybean-sowing season

Unloading fertilizer in the port of Santos

Brazilian farmers are preparing for another soybean planting season, the 2022/2023 harvest with the critical component of fertilizers to ensure high productivity and yields, on the tracks.

In effect the VLI transport operations kick started along the Southeast and North Rail Systems.The Tiplam terminal in Santos, the Port of Itaqui in São Luís, and the Port of Vitória are VLI’s main entryways for fertilizers imported from Canada, US, Russia, Morocco, and the Middle East, which are then loaded to rail terminals in Palmeirante (Tocantins state), Uberaba, and Araguari (both in Minas Gerais).

“The integration between port terminals and the rail network managed by the company makes it possible to supply several important agriculture enterprises located near the Centro-Atlântica Railroad, an important network strengthening agribusiness in the most dynamic states.

Likewise, VLI offers integration and high efficiency to promote cargo flow in the northern section of the Norte-Sul Railway. ”It is the efficiency of integration that gives farmers the security that they will receive fertilizers within the established deadline, in an agile and efficient operation that favors the development of their businesses,” emphasizes the Commercial Manager of Fertilizers and Agribusiness at VLI, Juliana Telles.

The company supplies the main national soybean-producing markets throughout the year, in Mato Grosso, Goiás, and São Paulo states, and the new agricultural frontier, Arco Norte, comprised of Maranhão, Tocantins, and Piauí. In addition to fertilizers, VLI handles important inputs such as phosphate rock, sulfur, and ammonia.

In related news it was reported that the largest ever fertilizer carrier to dock at the Port of Santos set sail on September 13. The 229-meter-long MV Red Marlin left Huanghua, China, on July 12 with 82,500 tons of ammonium sulfate and arrived on the Sao Paulo coast on August 27.

After landing at the port, the cargo will head by rail to Brazil’s Center-West region, the country’s largest soybean and corn-producing zone, which highly depends on these imported inputs.

After uncertainties in the international scenario and logistical issues related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the leading maritime agency in Santos, Wilson Sons said that it had registered a significant increase in the volume of fertilizer handling at ports.