Brazil group seeks to nationalise fertilizers

12 June 2008 23:24  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Brazilian rural activists on Thursday gathered in front of an Ultrafertil/Fosfertil fertilizer plant controlled by Bunge to demand state control over the facilities, official sources said.

The unit’s activities were halted for the protests in Araucaria, which included more than 700 activists, according to a state media report.

It was not immediately clear if production of fertilizers was interrupted and officials from Bunge were not immediately available for comment.

The subsistance farming activists claimed in a manifesto that fertilizer prices have risen following the privatisation in the 1990s of the state-run fertilizer companies in Brazil, according to the report.

Bunge is the largest fertilizer manufacturer in South America, according to the company. Its operations are centered in Brazil, with sales of fertilizer in Argentina.

“We believe that agricultural expansion in Brazil can and should occur provided it is done in a responsible way. We are working with farmers and other partners to promote environmentally responsible agriculture,” according to a statement about its business in Brazil on Bunge’s website.

There was no statement specifically about the protest at the plant.

The land reform group Via Campesina Brasil was involved in the protests, according to state media.

The Araucaria industrial complex in Parana state has capacity to produce 438,000 tonnes/year ammonia and 630,000 tonnes/year of urea.

Separately, the release by federal land reform agency Incra of statistics showing foreign entities owned 3.8m hectares of Brazilian land generated controversy in the country on Thursday.

(With additional reporting by David Rosen)

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