Reading Time: 3 minutes Brasilia/Sao Paulo | Reuters — Vale SA’s US$2.5 billion sale of its fertilizer business to Mosaic Co., the latest step in the Brazilian iron ore miner’s strategy to reduce debt, also makes it the U.S. company’s biggest shareholder. Mosaic, which made the deal to improve its access to Brazil’s vast agricultural markets, will pay $1.25 […] Read more
Vale sells fertilizer unit to Mosaic
Brazil farm belt roads blocked in new trucker strike
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Truckers in Brazil resumed roadblocks across the country’s main farm belt early on Thursday, after failing to reach common ground in talks with the government and freight companies in recent weeks regarding pay and fuel prices. Highway police on Thursday evening estimated that protesters had blocked roads at 17 points […] Read more
Brazil soy exports likely to slow after fire near Santos port
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazil’s soy exports will likely slow because a six-day fire at a nearby fuel-storage facility has restricted access to Brazil’s largest port, Santos, a port official and the soy industry association Abiove said on Tuesday. Authorities have agreed to restrict truck access to some terminals at the port at least […] Read more
Brazil truck strike wanes; more soy gets to ports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Only a handful of roads remained blocked in Brazil on Tuesday as truck drivers focused their grievances on Brasilia and a key highway in top soy state Mato Grosso opened after two weeks of protests. There were seven protests over rising freight costs affecting federal highways, down from 18 on […] Read more
Brazilian grain trucker blockade continues, threatens harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Truckers protesting high diesel prices in Brazil used road blocks to restrict the flow of soy, corn and other commodities in a key grain-growing region for a third day on Friday, threatening what is expected to be a record harvest. A group of transport companies and independent truckers are blocking […] Read more
Caution reigns as Brazil soy farmers eye another record crop
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazilian soy farmers are about to start sowing what could be a third consecutive record crop, but caution is their motto as near-term weather forecasts are less than ideal and low grain prices combined with rising costs are squeezing margins. Soybean planting in Brazil’s leading agricultural states is only allowed […] Read more
Bunge chief expects soy crushing margins in China to improve
Reading Time: 3 minutes Barcarena, Brazil | Reuters — Poor soy crushing margins in China that have led the country to default on soy purchases are short term and should improve in two to three months, Bunge Ltd.’s CEO says. Soren Schroder was in Brazil for Friday’s inauguration of Bunge’s new terminal in Barcarena on Brazil’s northern coast. The […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
