Argentina, tell me how it feels: Brazil invested one billion dollars to reactivate an old fertilizer plant.

Petrobras, the mixed-ownership petroleum company from the neighboring country, approved the resumption of the construction of the UFN-III in Tres Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, a nitrogen fertilizer plant that had been halted since 2015. The decision involves an investment of approximately 1,000 million dollars and, if the deadlines are met, the plant could be producing in 2029. The news comes at a time of high tension for the global fertilizer market. In local terms, 39% of Argentina's fertilizer imports in 2025 came from countries in the Persian Gulf area, whose gas, urea, and ammonia productions are key for the country's grain production. The conflict in the Middle East disrupted that supply chain and the FOB price of urea recorded an increase of up to 42%, climbing from 483 to 685 dollars per ton, levels that had not been seen since the end of 2022. UFN-III is designed to produce around 3,600 tons of urea and 2,200 tons of ammonia daily, with the surplus ammonia available for ...