Brazil increases imports from BRICS partner Russia, ensuring food and energy security for its people

Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, increased its imports from Russia, its BRICS partner. It continues to maintain a solid trade, like many other countries of the Global South.

The West, led by the United States, has attempted to isolate the government of Vladimir Putin, which is increasingly proving to be a failure.

(Brazilians love its forward-looking president. Bolsonaro got frenetically celebrated on Saturday, July 16, in the Northern city of Fortaleza)

For many large countries in the global South, such as India, China, Brazil, South Africa, the hybrid war against Russia is a matter for the West. It is not any of their business, except perhaps for U.S. attempts at intimidation to force some of them to follow its course.

Logistical difficulties aside, bilateral trade has barely suffered since Russian troops started their special military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to Brazil’s Economy Ministry.

By 2021, Russian imports totaled US$3.237 billion between March and June, more than double the US$1.572 billion in the same months last year.

This week, the government of Jair Bolsonaro, taking a “neutral” position in the conflict, announced that it had finalized an agreement to buy Russian diesel “as much as possible.”

“We are looking for safe and very reliable diesel suppliers, and Russia is one of them,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos França said at U.N. headquarters, distancing himself from the United States and the European Union.

The Western bloc has imposed gradual embargoes on Russian oil and gas with the consequence that, e.g., the citizens of prosperous Germany probably cannot heat their dwellings in the coming winter, Germany suffered its first trade deficit in decades, and the French talked about turning off their streetlights to save power, among other humiliating measures.

RUSSIAN FERTILIZERS ARE KEY FOR BRAZIL

The main product of Russian imports is chemical fertilizers, which are crucial to Brazil’s robust agricultural industry. In the first half of this year, they accounted for 77% of purchases.

Russia is Brazil’s most important fertilizer supplier. A quarter of the fertilizers it consumes come from there.

For Rodrigo Cezar, professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) School of International Relations, Brazil “has anticipated exports because it fears that Russia will not be able to continue its supplies.”

This increase in demand and logistical problems have driven up the price and affected the balance of trade, Cezar said.

RUSSIAN DIESEL TO EASE INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

Brazil, which holds a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council, expects to receive Russian diesel in up to “60 days,” according to Bolsonaro, who stressed the need to buy from those who “sell cheaper.”

“Russia continues to do business with the whole world; the economic sanctions have not worked,” said the conservative Bolsonaro, who gets often frenetically celebrated by the people in Brazil.