Agricultural Economics Department
Date of this Version
6-19-2019
Citation
agecon.unl.edu/cornhuskereconomics
Abstract
In a previous article in this space (on 6/20/2018), I discussed changes in the corn market and highlighted how the rapid growth of the Brazilian winter crop has been reshaping the market within Brazil and abroad. However, since corn exported by Brazil comes mainly from the country’s center-west, its competitiveness in the international market is grossly impacted by the transportation infrastructure in Brazil. The same issue applies to Brazilian soybeans as well.
The development of a new agricultural frontier in Brazil, in a region known as Matopiba, may help Brazilian grain become more competitive and bring more changes to the world market. Before we talk about this new frontier, let’s take a look at some numbers for competitiveness in the world market in order to better understand how the new production area in Brazil may change the landscape.