Brazil’s government is tackling its dependence on foreign fertilizers with a law that’s on the cusp of passage that would boost domestic production of crop nutrients through a Fertilizer Industry Development Program (Profert).
Brazilian bill PL 699/2023 is built on three pillars, including credit lines from the Brazilian development bank (BNDES) and tax credits up to 20% of investment in domestic fertilizer production, capped at R$2 billion annually between 2027 and 2031, according to the bill’s language.
Additionally, Brazil will establish a domestic-content floor for fertilizer sold in Brazil, establishing a 2% floor that will increase by 2%, starting on July 1, 2027, with the goal of reaching 10% by 2037. The content floor could go as high as 30%.
Following its approval from the Chamber of Deputies earlier in the year, Brazil’s Senate approved PL 699/2023 on Aug. 11, and the bill is now awaiting final signature by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Brazil imported nearly $15 billion of fertilizer in 2025, nearly 85% of its total fertilizer needs, per Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services data. The Latin American country is even more heavily dependent on foreign potassium, importing nearly 97% of its total demand.
Despite its reliance on foreign potash imports, Brazil has sources to mine the fertilizer, including Canadian company Brazil Potash’s Autazes Project, a proposed $2.5 billion mining facility in the Amazonas state that will produce 2.4 million tons of muriate of potash annually once operational.
Brazil Potash could receive $190 million in federal tax cuts from the Profert program and support from the Superintendence of the Manaus Free Trade Zone, reducing total capital needed for the project by roughly 7%, the company shared in a press release.
“Profert alone doesn’t solve Brazil’s potash dependency; no single law would. But, for the first time, it creates a market mandate for that production to happen here in Brazil, and it reduces the capital a project like ours needs to raise to deliver that production. The bill changes the conversation with those who finance companies in Brazil,” said Sérgio Leite, president of Potássio do Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary to Brazil Potash, in a press release.
