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 High prices for soy and corn are spurring Brazilian farmers to plant more and the Brazilian fertilizer industry is expecting a record volume sales year. Fertilizers high cost, however, could have an impact for some crops in Brazil.
Mário Barbosa, president of Brazil's National Association for Distribution of Fertilizers (ANDA), said demand could surpass 26 million tons this year, compared with 24.6 million in 2007.
"We've been estimating growth of 5 or 6% up to now, but the decisive months are July and August when we'll have a clearer idea of how things are," said Barbosa, who is also president of Bunge Fertilizantes, the largest distributor of fertilizers in Brazil.
Barbosa said his estimate was conservative and had been revised upward after record fertilizer sales in the first half of the year. Sales rose to 11.3 million tons compared with 9.39 million in the first half of 2007, a 20% rise.
Though fertilizer costs have risen sharply in the last year depending on the crop and the soil it is grown in, the sharp rise in grains prices has cushioned the blow. But coffee and sugar cane growers say they are struggling with rising costs.
"In the case of sugar cane and coffee, it is quite probably that there will be a reduction in fertilizer use," said Barbosa.
Imports of fertilizer, which supply the bulk of Brazil's needs, rose in the first half of the year to meet demand. Domestic production has also increased.
"The industry (in Brazil) is working to capacity. We'll only see large growth in national production in 2010 when several projects come on line," Barbosa said, referring to Bunge's own planned investments to raise output.
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
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Orange juice price is barely half of what it was in 2005.
Cattle prices are high but with NOOOOOO profit margin...or marginally at best !!!!
I bet Brazil will increase their FARMS subsidizes !!!!!
Or do exactly what YOU criticize...when others provide subsidizes namely the EU and USA.
Strange UNcommon sense. Especially knowing the EU and USA .....DONT produce Coffee beans !!!!!
hey...hey !!!!