Latest news with #Cofco
Hindustan Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
China Is Building Megaports in South America to Feed Its Need for Crops
Cofco is building its biggest export terminal outside China in the Brazilian port of Brazil—China has reassured its citizens they would have enough to eat without U.S. crops. It will have to unclog Latin America's largest port first. The decrepit port in this Atlantic coast city is the main gateway for South American exports of soybeans and other agricultural goods that represent China's only viable alternative supply to U.S. exports. Though China has reduced its reliance on U.S. foodstuffs, crops are still among the top U.S. exports to China. China's state-owned agricultural conglomerate, Cofco, is building its biggest export terminal outside China at the port to manage shipments of corn, sugar and soybeans. It would increase the company's annual export capacity to 14 million tons from 4.5 million, but isn't expected to reach full capacity until next year. The Santos port fits into China's wider plan to secure access to South America's agricultural bounty amid shortages of water and arable land at home. Chinese companies are laying hundreds of miles of railroad across Brazil's agricultural heartland and finishing work on a $3.5 billion deep-water port on Peru's Pacific coast. The trade war with the U.S. has heightened the urgency of these projects. Chinese leader Xi Jinping met South American leaders including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Beijing on Monday to discuss their deepening ties. Brazilian officials are welcoming the chance to draw foreign investment to the country's rickety roads, railroads and ports. 'We need more and more infrastructure,' Renan Filho, Brazil's transportation minister, said in an interview. Squeezed between rows of warehouses and the ruins of colonial-era sugar mills at the heart of the Santos port, a towering crane was putting the finishing touches to three Cofco silos, each the size of an apartment building. Since entering the Brazilian market in 2014 by acquiring Dutch grain trader Nidera and the agricultural unit of Hong Kong-based Noble, Cofco has relied on third-party terminals at an extra cost of some 15%. But in March 2022, Cofco secured a 25-year concession to develop the STS11 terminal at Santos Port, committing to invest some $285 million into the site. China's state ports conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings had already acquired a 90% stake in the operator of Paranaguá, another busy port in Brazil's south, in 2017 for $925 million. The state company China Railway has also been building part of a railroad that connects Brazil's central farming belt to ports in eastern and northern Brazil. In Peru, Cosco Shipping built a deep-water megaport to speed trade between Asia and South America. Beijing has also discussed with the region's governments a vast railroad running from Peru's Pacific coast to Brazilian ports on the Atlantic. Chinese officials on April 28 said they can easily drop U.S. crop imports and still hit their 5% growth target this year. Brazil—and, to a lesser extent, Argentina—would fill the void, according to analysts tracking agricultural markets. Brazil benefited from global trade tensions during President Trump's first term, displacing U.S. exports to China. Between 2017 and 2024, China increased imports of Brazilian soybeans 35% to 73 million tons, while cutting imports of U.S. soybeans 14% to 27 million tons, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 'You only have to see what happened in the first Trump administration,' said Cláudia Trevisan, head of the Brazil-China Business Council. 'Trump imposed tariffs on imports from China, China retaliated, and Brazil increased its exports to China of products that the U.S. also used to supply, mainly soybeans.' Santos can hardly keep up. Santos handled a record 180 million tons of cargo last year, about 60% of it agricultural goods. Strikes are commonplace. More than 90% of Brazil's port capacity for exporting agricultural bulk goods is in use, exceeding the operational safety limit of 85%, according to logistics consulting firm Macroinfra. Because the country lacks the extensive railroads that carry soybeans and corn in the U.S., crops mainly arrive in Santos by truck—as many as 20,000 a day, port authorities say. Traffic jams snake up to 20 miles down nearby highways. 'God knows how anything leaves this country,' said Silvia Ferreira, a schoolteacher in Santos, home to almost half a million people. Farms are also under pressure, particularly as fertilizer costs soar. Brazil's temperate climate allows for three harvests a year, compared with the one most countries manage. But this drains the land of nutrients, and Brazil's clay-based soils struggle to retain minerals during heavy rains. So fertilizer is critical. Brazil, which imports 85% of its fertilizers, mainly from Russia, was already struggling to secure what it needed after Russia invaded Ukraine. Trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada, a top fertilizer supplier to its neighbor, have further pushed up global prices. 'Brazil has so much potential, yes, but that doesn't mean it can wave a magic wand and, overnight, expand production and meet China's demands,' said Plinio Nastari, head of agricultural consulting firm Datagro. 'It has its own problems and all of this is part of the equation.' Write to Samantha Pearson at Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Mint
13-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
China is building megaports in South America to feed its need for crops
China has reassured its citizens they would have enough to eat without U.S. crops. It will have to unclog Latin America's largest port first. The decrepit port in this Atlantic coast city is the main gateway for South American exports of soybeans and other agricultural goods that represent China's only viable alternative supply to U.S. exports. Though China has reduced its reliance on U.S. foodstuffs, crops are still among the top U.S. exports to China. China's state-owned agricultural conglomerate, Cofco, is building its biggest export terminal outside China at the port to manage shipments of corn, sugar and soybeans. It would increase the company's annual export capacity to 14 million tons from 4.5 million, but isn't expected to reach full capacity until next year. The Santos port fits into China's wider plan to secure access to South America's agricultural bounty amid shortages of water and arable land at home. Chinese companies are laying hundreds of miles of railroad across Brazil's agricultural heartland and finishing work on a $3.5 billion deep-water port on Peru's Pacific coast. The trade war with the U.S. has heightened the urgency of these projects. Chinese leader Xi Jinping met South American leaders including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Beijing on Monday to discuss their deepening ties. Brazilian officials are welcoming the chance to draw foreign investment to the country's rickety roads, railroads and ports. 'We need more and more infrastructure," Renan Filho, Brazil's transportation minister, said in an interview. A worker in the Cofco terminal at the Port of Santos in January. Squeezed between rows of warehouses and the ruins of colonial-era sugar mills at the heart of the Santos port, a towering crane was putting the finishing touches to three Cofco silos, each the size of an apartment building. Since entering the Brazilian market in 2014 by acquiring Dutch grain trader Nidera and the agricultural unit of Hong Kong-based Noble, Cofco has relied on third-party terminals at an extra cost of some 15%. But in March 2022, Cofco secured a 25-year concession to develop the STS11 terminal at Santos Port, committing to invest some $285 million into the site. China's state ports conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings had already acquired a 90% stake in the operator of Paranaguá, another busy port in Brazil's south, in 2017 for $925 million. The state company China Railway has also been building part of a railroad that connects Brazil's central farming belt to ports in eastern and northern Brazil. In Peru, Cosco Shipping built a deep-water megaport to speed trade between Asia and South America. Beijing has also discussed with the region's governments a vast railroad running from Peru's Pacific coast to Brazilian ports on the Atlantic. Chinese officials on April 28 said they can easily drop U.S. crop imports and still hit their 5% growth target this year. Brazil—and, to a lesser extent, Argentina—would fill the void, according to analysts tracking agricultural markets. Brazil benefited from global trade tensions during President Trump's first term, displacing U.S. exports to China. Between 2017 and 2024, China increased imports of Brazilian soybeans 35% to 73 million tons, while cutting imports of U.S. soybeans 14% to 27 million tons, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 'You only have to see what happened in the first Trump administration," said Cláudia Trevisan, head of the Brazil-China Business Council. 'Trump imposed tariffs on imports from China, China retaliated, and Brazil increased its exports to China of products that the U.S. also used to supply, mainly soybeans." By 2023, Brazil accounted for about a quarter of Chinese agricultural imports, while the U.S. share had dropped to about 14%, government data show. Brazil now supplies about 70% of soybean shipments to China. About 30% pass through Santos, with smaller shares sent through Paranaguá and the northern ports of Itaqui and Barcarena. Santos can hardly keep up. Santos handled a record 180 million tons of cargo last year, about 60% of it agricultural goods. Strikes are commonplace. More than 90% of Brazil's port capacity for exporting agricultural bulk goods is in use, exceeding the operational safety limit of 85%, according to logistics consulting firm Macroinfra. The Cofco terminal in the port of Santos isn't expected to reach full capacity until next year. Because the country lacks the extensive railroads that carry soybeans and corn in the U.S., crops mainly arrive in Santos by truck—as many as 20,000 a day, port authorities say. Traffic jams snake up to 20 miles down nearby highways. 'God knows how anything leaves this country," said Silvia Ferreira, a schoolteacher in Santos, home to almost half a million people. Farms are also under pressure, particularly as fertilizer costs soar. Brazil's temperate climate allows for three harvests a year, compared with the one most countries manage. But this drains the land of nutrients, and Brazil's clay-based soils struggle to retain minerals during heavy rains. So fertilizer is critical. Brazil, which imports 85% of its fertilizers, mainly from Russia, was already struggling to secure what it needed after Russia invaded Ukraine. Trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada, a top fertilizer supplier to its neighbor, have further pushed up global prices. 'Brazil has so much potential, yes, but that doesn't mean it can wave a magic wand and, overnight, expand production and meet China's demands," said Plinio Nastari, head of agricultural consulting firm Datagro. 'It has its own problems and all of this is part of the equation." A drone view shows silos being built at the Cofco export terminal in the port of Santos. Write to Samantha Pearson at
Express Tribune
11-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
China buys wheat over crop damage risk
Listen to article Chinese buyers bought between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tons of wheat from Australia and Canada in recent weeks, traders said, as heat threatens to damage crops in China's agricultural heartlands. China is the world's top wheat grower and also imports large amounts of grain when domestic supply falls short of demand. Earlier this week, Henan province, which grows about a third of China's crop, issued a risk warning as hot, dry weather threatened the wheat growing in its fields. Chinese buyers have purchased four or five 55,000-ton shipments of wheat from Australia for delivery in July or August and around 200,000 tons from Canada, sources at two major trading firms in Australia said. The wheat is of milling quality. The bookings from Australia were the first made by China from the country since last year, said one of the traders. Cofco, the state-owned Chinese firm that handles most of the country's wheat imports, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has in recent years been one of the world's biggest wheat importers, buying in around 11 million tons worth $3.5 billion in 2024. Australia and Canada are typically its biggest suppliers. But shipments slowed sharply after China reaped large wheat and corn harvests last year and have since remained low. China delayed or redirected shipments from Australia earlier this year and imported less than a million tons of wheat in the seven months to March 31, Chinese customs data accessed through Trade Data Monitor show. One of the sources said their company had lowered its forecast of Chinese 2025 wheat production by around 5 million tons but there was no guarantee that more purchases would follow because China has large wheat inventories. "China is well self-sufficient in feed grains this crop year with heavy stocks," said Rod Baker, an analyst at Australian Crop Forecasters in Perth, adding that faltering economic growth in China was also depressing demand for grains. Talk of Canadian wheat sales to China has echoed around agricultural business circles in Winnipeg, Canada's grain industry capital, according to traders. Few concrete details on the sales have emerged. Chinese buyers would have avoided buying US wheat due to tariffs and the trade war between Washington and Beijing, one trader said. China in the past has been a top destination for US wheat sales. The drop-off in Chinese imports earlier in the current 2024/25 season had contributed to subdued international wheat prices, with benchmark futures in Chicago still near a four-year low touched last July. Along with weather risks to China's upcoming harvest, attractive prices may have lured Chinese importers back into the market as the 2025-26 season approaches, traders said. Chinese importers also booked a large amount of barley, according to traders. Some said that six panamax bulk carriers carrying around 360,000 tons of French or Ukrainian new-crop barley had been sold for delivery in July or August, with others putting the volume much higher at around 1 million tons, also for shipment this summer. Deflation deepens Meanwhile, China's factory-gate prices posted the steepest drop in six months in April while consumer prices fell for a third month, underlining the need for more stimulus as policymakers grapple with the economic toll from a trade war with the United States. A prolonged housing market downturn, high household debt and job insecurity have hampered investment and consumer spending, keeping deflationary pressures alive. Now, the economy is also facing increasing external risks from trade barriers. However, there are hopes for a de-escalation of tensions as US-China trade talks begin in Switzerland on Saturday. The Producer Price Index (PPI) dropped 2.7% in April year-on-year, worse than a 2.5% decline in March but was less than economists' forecast for a 2.8% fall, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Saturday. "China still faces persistent deflationary pressure," said Zhiwei Zhang, Chief Economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. "The pressure may rise in coming months as exports will likely weaken." "Even if China and the US can make progress and cut tariffs in trade negotiations, tariffs are unlikely to go back to the level before April," Zhang added. "More proactive fiscal policy is necessary to boost domestic demand and address the deflation problem."
New York Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Corrections: April 29, 2025
A picture caption with an article about President Trump's meeting with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, misstated the day that the photo of Ukrainian troops in Donetsk was taken. It was taken on Friday, April 18, not April 25. An article on Sunday about the third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Iran's nuclear activities misstated when Iran pulled away from obligations under a nuclear agreement. It was about a year after President Trump exited the pact in 2018, not a year after the deal was reached. An article on Sunday about President Trump's executive order that aims to permit, for the first time, industrial mining of the seabed for minerals misstated the given name of a scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. She is Beth Orcutt, not Bethany. An article on April 22 about China's efforts to replace its reliance on American soybeans misstated how the Chinese food company Cofco has used $500 million in investments in Brazil. The company has invested the money in various projects in Brazil, not just in the port terminal in Santos, Brazil. The article also misstated the name of a Brazilian trade group. It is the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries, not Vegetable Oil Producers. An article on Sunday about the various exhibitions and events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence used an incorrect title for Noelle Trent. She is the president and chief executive officer of the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket, Mass., not the director. An article on Sunday about one of the finest private art collections in the world owned by Henry Clay Frick provided an incorrect location for the Carnegie plant that was the site of a strike in 1892. It was located in Homestead, Pa., not Hempstead, Pa. An article on Sunday about a school lunch exhibition at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia misstated the number of students who received a free or reduced-price lunch on an average school day. According to the Food Research & Action Center's 2024 report, 19.7 million students received a free or reduced-price lunch, not 23.6 million. (About 23.6 million students were enrolled in high-poverty districts that qualify for free lunches for all.) An obituary on Monday about Alexis Herman, a Democratic Party insider who went on to become the first Black secretary of labor, misstated the name of one of Ms. Herman's survivors, a stepson. He is Charles J. Franklin, not Charles Franklin Jr. Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Cofco hiring dozens in farm powerhouse Brazil
By Roberto Samora SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Cofco International, which is building its biggest export port terminal in the world in Brazil, said on Tuesday China's state-run food group is recruiting dozens in the South American farm powerhouse. The move underscores the importance of Brazil to the company amid an escalating global trade war opposing the United States and China, which tends to boost sales of agricultural products like soybeans from the South American country to the Asian nation. Cofco's hiring spree in Brazil also comes as U.S.-headquartered competitors like Archer-Daniels-Midland Co and Cargill cut costs and headcount worldwide. "There are openings in different departments and hierarchical levels, most of which are in operations, sales, trading and administrative areas," Cofco said to answer a question from Reuters after a recruiting event. It declined to comment specifically on the effects of the tariffs on its Brazilian operation, nor did it specify how many job openings are currently available. Cofco, which is one of Brazil's largest grain exporters and also sources and exports oilseeds, sugar, coffee, and cotton, and produces ethanol, has already invested in the country's top soybean port, Santos. As part of the company's expansion drive, Cofco is building a new grains terminal at Santos, which is expected to be operational later this year. Cofco said it is already carrying out the operational tests to complete the facility's first phase of construction. Next year, when the second phase of the project should be complete, the company's export capacity at Santos will increase to 14 million metric tons of grains, compared with the current 4.5 million tons.
