Iran conflict could hit Brazilian farmers harder than Ukraine war - Valor International

The Brazilian Agriculture Confederation (CNA), the country’s main agribusiness lobby, said the conflict in Iran has created a “delicate” scenario for Brazilian farmers and that the impact on fuels and fertilizers could be greater than that caused by the war in Ukraine, which began more than four years ago.

Bruno Lucchi, the group’s technical director, mentioned that 30% of the nitrogen fertilizers imported by Brazil, such as urea, come from Middle Eastern countries, although this is not currently a buying period. He added that alternative suppliers are available, but prices are expected to increase.

“At the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, commodities were trading at high levels, unlike now when farmers are in debt, interest rates are high, and fertilizers have already become more expensive than usual. This is a much bigger crisis than the one we faced before,” he told reporters on Wednesday at the Lower House during the launch of the agribusiness sector’s 2026 legislative agenda.

Recently, as tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran have escalated, farmers have increasingly reported rising diesel prices. Incidents in Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Mato Grosso, Pará, and Goiás have been reported to CNA. The increase, which was about R$1 per liter last week, has now reached R$2.

The organization has asked the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) to step up oversight to prevent “unnecessary alarm” that leads to disproportionate increases at the pump.

Sector concern is high due to strong seasonal demand for diesel on farms at this time of year, with the soybean and rice harvests underway and the planting of the second corn crop in progress, as well as the transportation of production, which is mostly done by diesel-powered trucks.

Lucchi said the moment is “delicate, as farmers were already facing high production costs due to fertilizer prices that did not fall after the pandemic, unlike commodity prices, which are now below pandemic levels.”

He noted that Brazil imports between 20% and 30% of the diesel it uses. “Petrobras has not made any price pass-through or increase, so there is no explanation for such a disproportionate rise,” the CNA technical director argued.

According to CNA, the situation is worse in the North and Northeast regions, which rely on fertilizers coming through ports in the Southeast and South and then being transported by diesel trucks. “States in the Northeast and the so-called Northern Arc will face even higher costs, because many inputs have to cross the country to get there. This will be extremely negative for the sector,” Lucchi said.

Pedro Lupion, a lawmaker and president of the Congressional Agriculture Front (FPA), said the situation could raise food prices and impact Brazil’s inflation if nothing is done to contain the effects of the war on fuels and fertilizers.