Brazil MAP imports rise to 2024 high in June

Brazil imported 441,000t of MAP in June, the highest monthly total so far this year, GTT data show.

Receipts climbed by over 100,000t on the month and by 128,000t on the year in June. But they were below the 2019-23 June average of 459,000t owing to particularly high imports in 2021 and 2022. Brazilian MAP imports typically climb during the second quarter and peak in August.

Receipts over the first half of this year have been lagging against long-term averages, totalling 1.8mn t in January-June compared with 2.3mn t a year earlier and a five-year average of 2mn t. But last month was the first so far this year where imports increased compared with a year earlier. This trend may persist in the coming months, with Unimar line-up data suggesting that 464,000t of MAP will be delivered to Brazil in July, compared with 383,000t a year earlier.

The share of Brazil's MAP imports from Russia fell to 43.5pc, having remained above 50pc every month since December. Russia's share of MAP deliveries to Brazil was 41.1pc in June last year.

Moroccan flows filled the gap left by the declining share of Russian arrivals, with Brazil importing 35.2pc of its MAP from Moroccan producer OCP. Imports from the country had remained below a third of total MAP flows to Brazil since December, and were at 32pc in June 2023.

And the share of imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 3.2 percentage points on the month to below a fifth of total flows, and compared with 22.9pc in June last year.

Brazilian buyers delayed their phosphate purchases this year, expecting MAP prices to decline in line with weakening Indian DAP cfr prices, which fell to a low of $508/t cfr in mid-May. Indian DAP prices are now firming but remain below levels in the first quarter.

Brazilian MAP prices have been rising steadily over the past month, to $630/t cfr from a range of $580-600/t cfr at the start of June. Persistent lower availability of imports within the application window for the 2024-25 soybean crop has supported MAP prices.

By Adrien Seewald