Grain Flow Through the Northern Arch of Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is the world’s largest producer of soybean followed by the United States. These two countries accounting for roughly 68.7% of world production. The largest soybean producing region in Brazil is the Midwest, followed by the southern region. Between 2010 and 2020, the exported volume of soybean rose from 29.1 million tons to 83 million tons, respectively, representing 185% rise. The soybean exports are drained by nine logistic corridors and recently it calls attention the expansion of the logistics corridors of the Northern Arch of Brazil. It is expected that Ferrogrão, a railway project connecting the 933 km from Sinop (Mato Grosso state) to Itaituba (Pará state), will consolidate the Tapajós River Corridor as one of the most important corridors to the grain flows and it will help to reduce freight prices. The objective of this paper is to present the recent change in the grain exports flows through the Northern Arch of Brazil and discuss the potential impact of Ferrogrão rail in the Brazilian logistics of grain exports. For it, at the first item will be presented the importance of Brazilian soybean production in the world market and the main producing region in Brazil; in the second item will be presented the main logistic corridors for grain exports; in the third item will be presented the Northern Arch logistic corridors; in the fourth item will be presented the Ferrogrão railway project and in the fifth item will be presented the final considerations.