Petrobras Revives Fertilizer Production To Loosen Brazil’s Import Dependence

Brazil’s state-controlled Petrobras is bringing fertilizer production back in-house, reactivating two nitrogen plants in the northeast to reduce a heavy reliance on imports.

The facilities—FAFEN-BA in Camaçari, Bahia, and FAFEN-SE in Laranjeiras, Sergipe—were idled after a lease with private operator Unigel ended in 2023.

Both units are now in maintenance ahead of a phased restart that begins with urea and ARLA 32 (a diesel exhaust fluid) production from early 2026.

The move addresses a structural vulnerability: Brazil uses vast amounts of fertilizer yet produces too little of its own, leaving farmers exposed to global price swings and shipping delays.

By pairing the Bahia and Sergipe plants with Petrobras’s ANSA unit in Paraná, the company aims to supply roughly 20 percent of the country’s nitrogen fertilizer demand.

National consumption of nitrogen products is estimated near 8 million tonnes a year, so even a fifth of that is meaningful breathing room for the farm economy.

Petrobras Restarts Urea Plants to Boost Jobs and Farm Supply

The restart comes with concrete numbers. Each of the two northeastern plants will receive about R$38 million ($7 million) for repairs and recommissioning.

Operations will be handled under a five-year O&M contract worth R$1.0 billion ($189 million) with industrial services firm Engeman.

Capacity is sizable: urea output of about 1,300 tonnes per day in Bahia, 1,800 tonnes per day in Sergipe, and roughly 1,900 tonnes per day planned at ANSA.

Petrobras and state officials say the effort supports jobs—around 800 across the plants and port terminals, with Sergipe projecting roughly 1,400 related positions locally.

There is a logistics angle, too. ARLA 32, made from urea and demineralized water, is essential for truck fleets to meet emissions rules.

A steadier domestic supply should help keep harvest-time transport moving. Petrobras has also signed its first urea sales contract for Matopiba—Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia—Brazil’s fast-growing farm frontier.

What to watch: gas supply and costs, which make or break nitrogen plants, and whether Petrobras can sustain high utilization as production ramps in 2026. If it does, Brazil gains a stronger industrial base and farmers gain a buffer against global shocks.

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