Transoceanic Highway: an alternative logistics for the flow of exports of Brazilian soybeans bound for China

• Published in: Revista de economia e sociologia rural Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 351 - 368
• Main Authors: de Almeida, Cleibson Aparecido, Seleme, Robson, Cardoso Neto, Joao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: 01.04.2013
• Subjects: Agribusiness; Brazil; Competition; Pacific Ocean; Peoples Republic of China; Peru; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Transportation; United States of America
• ISSN: 0103-2003

Rates of Brazilian export and agricultural production have increased sharply over the last years, affected mainly by the significant increase of Chinese economic power. Since agribusiness has become important in the export array, Brazil has been facing problems with high costs of land transportation and disability of its ports, especially Santos, Paranagua, Vitoria and Rio Grande, which have a very important role in flowing agribusiness products in Brazil. Thus, the Brazilian soybean is not competitive when compared to its two main competitors, Argentina and the United States. A logistics alternative to export the grain is the use of ports in the Pacific Ocean and that links with the recently launched, fully paved, Transoceanic highway. This paper presents three possible scenarios that simulate the limited capacity of the warehouses of the four main Brazilian ports exporting soybeans, and is verified the importance of ports of Ilo (Peru) and Arica (Chile) to supply a casual crash logistics in Brazilian ports. After the simulation, some reflections on the needs of logistics improvements are inferred to increase the competitiveness of the Brazilian soybean. Adapted from the source document.