Storage deficit reaches 118.5 million tons in Brazil

The static grain storage capacity is 194 million tons, while the expected production for Brazil is 312.5 million tons of grains, and this difference can cause losses by causing a decrease in commodity prices — as Bertolini explains .

“The producer is also pressured to get rid of, in quotes, his production, because he has nowhere to dry, clean and store grain. And then he enters this market offering a product _ and forces prices down very intensely. So part of the drop in commodity prices today is due to the lack of infrastructure and mainly the lack of warehouses”, he contextualizes.

According to the specialist, the tendency of agriculture is to continue growing — and this needs to be accompanied by infrastructure. This storage deficit accumulates over the years, as storage capacity grows by an average of 4.8 million tons, below the pace of growth in grain production, which advances around 9.4 million tons.

“We need to invest at least R$15 billion reais every year in new silos, this is just to keep up with the pace of growth of grain agriculture in Brazil, it is not even to reduce the deficit” — estimated the president of the Sectorial Chamber of Equipment for Abimaq Grain Storage, Paulo Bertolini.

Another issue raised by the expert is where these silos should be built. According to Bertolini, the ideal is for storage to be as close as possible to production. “Here in Brazil we only have 15% of our static capacity that is inside the farms, it is very little. And this causes waste, damage, loss of income, destruction of the road, because it concentrates all transport movement at the peak of the harvest and not cadenced throughout the year, if there was a warehouse, there is a general loss for everyone” – he pondered.