Demand for asphalt in Brazil is expected to remain elevated in 2025, boosted by a number of highway projects planned to be tendered this year.
The Ministry of Transportation expects to seek tenders in 15 auctions this year. Overall, the Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires looks for 3,000km worth of roadway projects to be awarded at the federal level, along with another 4,000km at the state level. That is up from 10 auctions for projects covering 4,000km of paving work at the federal and state level last year.
This anticipation of such an active paving year is upending the conventional wisdom that a year without elections means less asphalt demand. Typically, paving work on public streets and highways is more concentrated during election years, when mayors and governors focus their public budgets on infrastructure work to appease voters.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration has asked lawmakers to allocate R$12.8bn for the National Department of Transportation Infrastructure in 2025, up by nearly R$240mn from the amount approved for 2024. The National Congress is expected to take up the annual budget law in February, after the parliamentary recess, and may make considerable changes.
State-controlled Petrobras expects to sell around 2.7mn t of asphalt in 2025, or 1pc more than its 2024 projections.
This past year was record-breaking for the Brazilian asphalt market, with more than 2.76mn tons of asphalt sold through October, according to oil regulator ANP. This was 10pc more than what was sold in the same period in 2023, in a year in which asphalt demand reached its highest level since 2014.
Asphalt imports increased in 2024 as a result. Brazil's asphalt sales exceeded local production by an average of 18pc, boosting the purchase of imported material earlier in the year.
US Gulf coast exports to Brazil reached an all-time high in October, according to data from Kpler. During the first 11 months of 2024, Brazil imported 300mn t of asphalt, also primarily from the US Gulf.
