The Port of Itaqui, in São Luís (MA), is already one of the main routes for the export of grains for export produced in Matopiba (confluence between Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia), Mato Grosso, Goiás and Pará, and it is also beginning to gain weight as a gateway for imported fertilizers for farmers in the same regions. In the first quarter, shipments of grains and derivatives such as bran and oils in Itaqui amounted to 3 million tons, 30% more than in the same period in 2019. Soybeans represented 1.6 million tons of this total, and corn 68 thousand. In the case of soybeans, according to calculations by the National Association of Cereal Exporters (Anec), Itaqui accounted for 7.4% of total shipments of 21.5 million tons from January to March and was behind Santos (SP), Paranaguá ( PR) and Barcarena (PA). In the case of corn, the share was 4%. With the record soybean harvest in this 2019/20 harvest and a robust corn production, Ted Lago, president of the port, projects that the total volume of shipments should reach 15 million tons in 2020, an increase of almost 35% in relation to to 2019 (11.2 million), as external demand has so far remained firm, despite the new coronavirus pandemic. This upward trend, also observed in other ports in the North, such as Barcarena and Santarém (PA), is mainly explained by the cost of freight, which is lower because of the shorter distances between the productive centers of the Center-North of the country and the ports of the North. Southeast. And that is exactly why fertilizer imports have also started to increase, closing the logistical equation for rural producers, trading companies and agro-industries. According to Lago, 1.3 million tons of fertilizers entered Itaqui in the first quarter, an increase of more than 75% compared to the same interval in 2019. The executive also attributes part of the surge to increased investments in the field and the anticipation of purchases by soybean producers, motivated by the favorable exchange ratio between the grain and the fertilizer. And he recalls that the flow will increase even more, since a new specific terminal for this type of cargo will be inaugurated, in which R$ 130 million are being invested. “We are at a smaller distance from suppliers [of fertilizers], whether in North America, Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe, and the tendency is for logistics to be even better when the new terminal is inaugurated, which will facilitate the flow into the interior, using the railway, ”he said, referring to the VLI North-South railroad. The new terminal is owned by Companhia Operadora Portuária do Itaqui (Copi), controlled by the fertilizer company Fertipar and by Rocha Terminais Portuário e Logística, and should be completed in September, according to Carlos Roberto Frisoli, director of Copi. This year, the company should move 1.6 million tons of fertilizers through Itaqui. Frisoli says that part of the investment of R$ 130 million is for warehouses and civil construction, but that 60% of the total is destined for the purchase of equipment, including automated belts and a railway bull, where the wagons are loaded. The structure aims to expand Copi’s installed receiving capacity to 3.5 million per year, by 2024. In that period, 1 million tons should be pulled by rail, relieving the road modal in the region. “The train that goes up with soy to Itaqui will be able to descend with fertilizers to Palmeirante or Porto Nacional, in Tocantins”, said Frisoli. This project is being studied in conjunction with VLI, and it also helps to reduce costs.
Source: Valor Economico / Portos e Navios