Brazil Bioinputs: Turning an Import Dependency into an Investment Opportunity

Brazil is one of the world’s great agricultural exporters, but it grows its crops largely on imported nutrients. In 2025, agribusiness exports reached USD 169.1bn, or 48.6% of the country’s total export value. Agriculture and livestock gross value added rose 11.7% y/y in real terms to BRL 775.3bn, or 6.1% of GDP. This export engine, however, is largely dependent on a supply chain that Brazil does not control.

Brazil is one of the world’s top four fertiliser consumers. According to the country’s National Association for the Diffusion of Fertilisers (ANDA), imports averaged 87% of domestic fertiliser sales over 2021-2025. In 2025, Brazil imported 43.3mn tonnes of fertiliser intermediates, up 4.8% y/y, equal to 88.2% of domestic sales. This dependence exposes Brazil’s main export value chains to risks related to international prices, exchange rates, freight costs and geopolitical disruption. Brazil’s National Fertiliser Plan (PNF 2022–2050) seeks to reduce this dependence, while improving the business environment for the fertiliser and plant-nutrition sector.

Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) forecasts that grain output will rise 27%, from 298.4mn tonnes in 2023/2024 to about 379mn tonnes by 2033/2034. Cultivated area is expected to grow only 15.5%, to 92.2mn ha. Productivity must close the gap, which means more efficient nutrient use and better pest control. Bioinputs address both needs.

Brazil’s bioinputs market generated more than BRL 6.2bn in 2025, up 15% on 2024. Treated area reached 194mn ha, up 28% y/y and up from 5mn ha in 2010. McKinsey’s 2024 survey found that 64% of Brazilian farmers use bionutrients and 61% use biocontrol products, the highest rates among the markets it covered. MAPA registered a record 160 bioinputs in 2025. The Bioinputs Law (Law 15,070/2024) now gives the sector a dedicated federal framework covering production, import and export, registration and marketing.

The inoculant segment shows what a domestic biological supply chain can do. According to the National Association for the Promotion and Innovation of the Biological Industry (ANPII Bio), 97% of the inoculants used in Brazil are produced locally. Brazil has more than 600 registered inoculants, at least 60% of them designated for soybeans.

Agricultural residues add a second import-substitution route. The Brazilian Association of Plant Nutrition Technology Industries (ABISOLO) estimates that Brazilian crops generated around 2.6bn tonnes of solid residues in 2025/2026, with potential to yield over 700mn tonnes of organic fertiliser a year. The nutrient value of crop and livestock residues rose from USD 22.24bn in 2021 to USD 46.28bn in March 2026. That is equivalent to more than 74mn tonnes of mineral fertiliser, about 1.7 times the 2025 import volume. Regional processing plants near crop, livestock and agro-industrial clusters are the most credible way to capture it.

Brazil is also preparing to export its bioinputs. In June 2026, CropLife Brasil and ApexBrasil launched the Renera initiative to identify international markets, regulatory requirements and local partners. It made its international debut at the FAO’s COAG session in July 2026.

Capital is already moving. Koppert is investing BRL 500mn in its fourth Brazilian plant, in Piracicaba, Brandt has announced plans to invest BRL 110mn in two facilities in Cambé, Paraná, and BASF closed its acquisition of AgBiTech in March 2026, gaining production and R&D assets in Brazil.

Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has also made bioinputs financing a permanent part of its lending, and BNDES Bioinsumos offers up to BRL 60mn in grants.

Brazil pairs USD 169.1bn in agribusiness exports with fertiliser imports covering nearly 90% of domestic sales. Bioinputs offer a route to reduce that exposure, backed by a BRL 6.2bn market, record adoption, a new legal framework and growing capital inflows. Investors who back products that deliver consistent results should benefit as Brazil cuts its import dependence and begins to export its biological technology.

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