Port delays stall coffee exports and expose Brazil’s logistical bottlenecks

Brazil’s coffee shipments faced one of the worst logistical bottlenecks in recent years in August, with estimated losses of R$5.9 million and more than 600,000 bags held up at ports. The issue, reported by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé), reflects the exhaustion of operational capacity and the lack of investment in port modernization.

In addition to direct costs related to storage and container detention, the country lost about R$1.2 billion in export revenue, based on the average value per bag exported. The situation raises concerns about the competitiveness of Brazilian coffee, which leads the global market but faces growing logistical challenges in moving its production.

According to experts, the Port of Santos, which is responsible for over 80% of national coffee shipments, is operating near its capacity limit. In August, two-thirds of vessels scheduled to depart from the terminal experienced delays or schedule changes, with waiting times reaching up to 47 days. At the Port of Rio de Janeiro, the second most relevant for coffee exports, nearly 40% of vessels were also affected.

Confira a seguir um histórico das exportações brasileiras de café em grão via Porto de Santos. O gráfico foi elaborado com dados do DataLiner:

Exportações Brasileiras de Café em Grão | Jan 2022 a Ago 2025 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (Clique aqui para solicitar uma demo)

Cecafé advocates for a joint government and private sector strategy to unlock the bottlenecks. The debate over the new port regulatory framework, currently under discussion in Congress, is considered crucial for boosting investment, expediting concessions, and avoiding litigation in tenders such as Tecon Santos 10, seen as essential for expanding container capacity.

The impact goes beyond coffee exports: logistical bottlenecks are already undermining other agribusiness supply chains, especially those reliant on containerized transport, such as fruits, cotton, and processed meats. With global demand rising and a record harvest underway, the sector fears that port inefficiency will become one of the main barriers to the expansion of Brazilian agribusiness in the coming years.

For the president of the Agribusiness Institute (IA) and the Federation of Agronomists of Mato Grosso (Feagro-MT), Isan Rezende, these delays epitomize Brazil’s logistical bottlenecks. “Producers who invest in high-quality grains lose part of their added value when they can’t deliver within the commercial calendar. That reduces returns on investments in fertilizers, irrigation, and soil preparation.”

“We live in a country where the logistics infrastructure is lagging behind agricultural production. It’s estimated that Brazil faces a storage capacity shortfall exceeding 20% of the harvest, forcing farmers to move their grains quickly, thereby incurring the risk of loss. This limitation — combined with poor road conditions and lack of modal integration — raises the final product cost and weakens international competitiveness,” Rezende explained.

“When you compare road transport costs here with those in the United States, the gap is enormous — up to 30%. These logistical distortions pile up and drain efficiency across the entire supply chain,” he added.

“A national logistics reengineering is essential: more railways, waterways, integration terminals, and strategic logistics hubs. Different modes of transport need to work together; ports must stop being permanent bottlenecks; and both the government and private investors must understand that logistics isn’t an extra cost but the foundation for keeping Brazilian agribusiness growing,” concluded the IA president.

Source: Pensar Agro

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