Brazil Soybean Transportation: First Quarter Transportation Cost Increased

摘要

As the soybean harvest season reached its peak in March, total 1st quarter transportation cost of shipping soybeans from Brazil to Shanghai, China, increased 18 to 48 percent from a year earlier. Half the Brazil soybean crop is usually harvested during the 1st quarter of the year. Transportation costs rose due to a significant increase in ocean rates, which were 46 to 48 percent higher than in 2006. Total transportation costs to Hamburg followed the same trend. Transportation cost represented over 40 percent of the total landed cost of shipping from Sorriso, North Mato Grosso, to Shanghai and Hamburg through the port of Santos and Paranagua. Sorriso is located 1,190 from Santos and 1,262 miles from Paranagua. However, the transportation cost of soybeans shipped from Cruz Alta, Northwest Rio Grande do Sul (RS), to the same destinations was only 14 to 20 percent of the total landed cost because of the shorter road distance to the Port of Rio Grande (288 miles).