Brazil’s privately-held fertilizer company Galvani Fertilizantes, Sao Paulo, is ramping up production and will double phosphate output at its plant in Luis Eduardo Magalhaes in Bahia state to 1.2 million mt in two years, CEO Marcos Stelzer said in an interview with Bloomberg.
While the expansion was planned before the latest fertilizer crisis began, the increased output will still be a welcome addition for local farmers struggling to afford the inputs they need in a runaway global marketplace.
Brazil, the top destination for Russian fertilizer shipments, currently imports around 85% of its fertilizer demand and 75% of its phosphate use. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing prices to skyrocket, the Brazilian government has been looking for alternative suppliers from Canada to Iran; otherwise, it risks lower fertilizer use curbing yields and contributing to soaring food prices around the world.
In addition to the Luis Eduardo Magalhaes plant, Galvani is also a partner in an early-stage fertilizer project in the nation’s northeast, which is classified as strategic by the federal government. Known as Santa Quiteria (GM Oct. 19, 2018), the phosphate-uranium project is waiting for environmental and operation licenses to proceed, the CEO said.
If brought online, the Santa Quiteria project will introduce an additional 1.05 million mt/y of phosphate production. Together, the projects will boost Galvani’s fertilizer output to 2.2 million mt in 2026 from 600,000 mt in 2021. That would represent more than one-third of the nation’s current phosphate output.
The Galvani family retained the production unit in Luis Eduardo Magalhães and the mining units in Angico dos Dias and Irecê, as well as the Santa Quitéria project, when it sold its minority stake in Galvani Indústria to Yara International ASA, Oslo, in 2018 (GM Oct. 19, 2018). The Galvani retained assets were valued at US$95 million as of Aug. 31, 2018.