COFCO Kicks Off Construction of New Port Terminal in Santos

On 8th August 2023, COFCO International kicked off the construction of the new port terminal dedicated for agricultural produce in the port of Santos in Brazil. Representatives of the COFCO, Santos Port Authority and Santos Municipal Government were in attendance.

The port of Santos is the largest in Latin America and is linked to 600 ports in 125 countries. In 2022, USD 112 billion of goods passed through it, representing nearly 30% of Brazil’s total trade volume.

The STS11 terminal project was awarded to COFCO after an international bidding process back in March 2022. The contract provides COFCO with a 25-year concession to operate the solid bulk terminal under a FDBOT model.

“The port expansion reinforces COFCO’s commitment towards sustainable development of Brazilian agriculture. It will give more choices to Brazilian farmers and support the local communities around Santos through job creation.”

COFCO Brazil Representative

Currently, COFCO works with more than 7,000 Brazilian farmers of various sizes and for a variety of crops. To ensure #FoodSecurity, COFCO has recently initiated a traceability program. In addition, COFCO is promoting non-OGM produce.

In 2021, bilateral trade between Brazil and China reached USD 135 billion, of which agricultural produce is a major component. COFCO has been in Brazil for a number of years and now operates two port terminals in the country. It also has 19 storage facilities across Brazil and one processing plant for local value addition (#LVA).

The new agricultural produce terminal will expand the bulk terminal capacity from 3 to 14 million tonnes annually. The first phase of expansion is due to be completed in 2025 and the next phase is scheduled to be delivered by 2026 when the terminal will attain its full design capacity. At the moment, COFCO sources sugar, coffee, soya bean, cotton and other commodities from Brazil.