Beer output in Brazil is growing rapidly. Sales in the beer segment will amount to around USD 27.4 billion in 2022. A market volume of EUR 34.9 billion will be reached in 2025; this corresponds to an annual sales growth of about 8 %, according to a forecast by Statista,
Brewing a growing amount of beer does not only need the construction of new breweries or the expansion of existing ones, but also a growing supply of raw materials such as barley and malt.
Malt consumption in Brazil amounts to 1.6 million tons per year with only one third being produced domestically and the remaining two thirds being imported. While large amounts of malt are traditionally imported from neighboring countries such as Uruguay and Argentina, there have been malt imports from Europe for many decades. Recently, Australia has also been added, as Australian farmers are looking for new sales channels after a boycott of China.
The imported malt is usually transported loose in large overseas ships, which requires sufficient unloading and storage capacity in or near the port.
In order to cope with the growing imports of wheat, barley and malt, port officials of Porto Ponta do Félix have announced on Monday a new investment package in infrastructure that will be carried out throughout this first half of the year at the location.
Porto Ponta do Félix, located in the Antonina region on the Paraná coast, is considered to be an important barley and malt transshipment point in southwestern Brazil. It is one of the two terminals of the Port of Antonina and is located close to Port of Paranaguá, one of the main ports of Brazil and Latin America.
The investment totals BRL 45 million (USD 9m) and will be used to improve the cargo storage infrastructure and build six new cargo storage silos with a capacity of 6,700 tons each. This brings storage capacity for products such as barley, malt and wheat at Porto Ponta do Félix up to 40,000 tons.
The expansion works are already underway and, after all phases have been concluded, the estimated capacity rises to 430 thousand tons. The officials plan to use the new silos already in the second half of the year. This is one of the biggest infrastructure contributions the port has made in recent years to improve the efficiency of operations.
