Brazil Struggles to Cut Fertilizer Imports Despite National Plan Launched in 2022

Brazil’s dependence on fertilizer imports remains unchanged three years after the launch of the National Fertilizer Plan (PNF). Industry figures show no progress toward the plan’s goal of reducing the share of imported fertilizers from 85% to 45% by 2050.

The initiative was launched in the final year of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration amid a supply crisis. When the war between Russia and Ukraine began, Russian fertilizer exports to Brazil were temporarily halted, raising alarms in Brazilian agriculture.

Russia is the world’s leading supplier of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), and Brazil, one of the largest markets globally, ranks behind only China, India, and the United States. For potash-based fertilizers, Brazil’s dependence on foreign supply exceeds 95%.

The decree establishing the PNF, signed by Bolsonaro, remains in effect under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration. Reducing dependence on imported fertilizers was one of Lula’s campaign promises. Still, the plan has stalled.

Data from the National Association for Fertilizer Dissemination (Anda) shows a stagnant scenario, with imports still accounting for 85% of the domestic supply. In contrast, domestic fertilizer output has declined since the PNF’s launch in 2022.

That year, domestic production of intermediate fertilizers was 7.7 million tonnes. In 2023, production dropped 10% to 6.9 million tonnes. 2024 it rose slightly by 3.8%, reaching 7.2 million tonnes—still below 2022 levels.

In the first two months of 2025, domestic production totaled 1.15 million tonnes, up 12% from the same period in 2024 (1.03 million tonnes), but still below the 1.23 million tonnes produced in early 2022.

Meanwhile, imports continue to rise. In 2022, international purchases reached 34.6 million tonnes. In 2023, imports increased 13.9% to 39.4 million tonnes. In 2024, imported inputs totaled 41.3 million tonnes—an additional 4.8% increase.

In just the first two months of 2025, Brazil imported 6 million tonnes of intermediate fertilizers, a 10.1% increase from the 5.4 million tonnes recorded in January and February 2024.

Below is a historical overview of Brazilian fertilizer imports via the Port of Santos. The chart was prepared using DataLiner data:

Fertilizers Imported via Port of Santos | Jan 2022 – Mar 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Fertilizer Is the Top Cost for Producers

“We’ve made no progress so far,” said Lucas Costa Beber, president of the Mato Grosso Soy and Corn Producers Association (Aprosoja-MT). “We have a serious problem. Brazil is rich in fertilizers, especially in the Amazon, but we can’t exploit them due to environmental ideology,” he added.

An analysis by the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea) shows that rising production costs have slowed fertilizer purchases for the 2025/26 crop season in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s leading soybean-producing state. As of February, only 38.4% of producers had purchased fertilizers, below the average of the last five seasons.

According to Imea, soybean production costs for the 2025/26 season rose 6% compared to the previous crop year, reaching R$7,540 per hectare. Fertilizer costs rose above average, up 7.6% to R$1,880 per hectare. Prices for mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) have increased by 20%.

A similar pattern is seen in corn production. According to Imea, fertilizer costs reached R$1,330 per hectare, accounting for about 22% of total average production costs (R$6,100 per hectare), surpassing the costs of pesticides and seeds.

“We can say that little has been achieved since this national fertilizer production plan started,” said Daniel Rosa, technical advisor at the Brazilian Association of Corn and Sorghum Producers (Abramilho).

Initiatives Will Take Time to Materialize

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) was contacted regarding ongoing PNF initiatives, but had not responded by publication.

Environmental legislation is one of the main barriers to advancing domestic fertilizer production. A prominent project is the development of a potash reserve in Autazes (Amazonas), which could supply around 2.4 million tonnes of potash annually.

Brazil Potash, the company behind the project, has tried to begin mining for nearly a decade but has faced resistance from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), citing risks to local Indigenous lands and communities.

In March, Brazil Potash CEO Matt Simpson announced that all environmental licenses had been approved and that early construction phases had begun, under an investment partnership with the Amaggi Group, owned by former Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi.

However, there is no set timeline for the start of mining, which is expected to take several more years.

Last year, the National Council for Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition (Confert)—which includes representatives from Mapa, the Ministries of Finance and Industry, Embrapa, Petrobras, and the national industrial and agricultural confederations (CNI and CNA)—presented a portfolio of strategic projects to meet the PNF’s targets.

A total of 65 projects were selected—51 public and 14 private—to boost domestic fertilizer production and reduce foreign dependency. One initiative is the creation of the Center of Excellence in Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition (CEFENP), which does not yet have a physical location.

During a government mission to China this week, Brazil announced plans to sign a feasibility study agreement with China Chemical (CNCEC) to attract Chinese interest in building a fertilizer plant in Sapopema (Paraná).

The proposed plant would have an annual production capacity of 520,000 tonnes of urea, but no operational timeline has been confirmed.

In March 2024, Eurochem inaugurated a Serra do Salitre (Minas Gerais) complex, including a phosphate mine, input factories, and a blending unit that can produce 1 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizers annually.

Once fully operational, the new facility could boost national phosphate fertilizer output by 15%, according to the company.

In August, during a ceremony attended by President Lula, Petrobras announced the restart of operations at the Araucária Nitrogenados S.A. (Ansa) fertilizer plant in Paraná.

However, production is expected to resume only in the second half of this year. Petrobras says the plant can produce 420,000 tonnes of urea and 475,000 tonnes of ammonia annually.

Petrobras also plans to resume construction of the Nitrogen Fertilizer Unit 3 (UFN-3) in Três Lagoas (Mato Grosso do Sul), regain control of fertilizer plants in Bahia and Sergipe (leased to the private sector in 2020), and invest in natural gas for fertilizer production.

Other companies, including Mosaic, Itafos, Viter, and Yara Brasil, have announced investments totaling around R$1 billion in fertilizer production projects in Brazil.

Meanwhile, developing the Itataia deposit in Santa Quitéria (Ceará), where phosphate and uranium are found together, is expected to begin by 2029 after more than a decade of research.

At full capacity, the open-pit mine is expected to produce 1.05 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizers and 220,000 tonnes of dicalcium phosphate annually, the latter of which is used in animal nutrition.

Source: Gazeta do Povo

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