From farm to barge: The $80 burden on every tonne

Transporting a tonne of soybeans from a silo to its destination port can cost up to $80, a burden that weighs heavily on Paraguay’s export competitiveness. The journey begins on the farm, continues through storage facilities and roads, moves onto a barge, and crosses borders before the grain becomes export revenue.

Hugo Pastore, executive director of the Paraguayan Chamber of Cereals and Oilseed Exporters and Traders, breaks down the cost using soybean exports to Argentina as an example. The leg from Paraguayan ports to destination ports costs between $45 and $50 per tonne. That includes barge freight, port costs at both ends, financing, insurance, losses and quality controls.

The trip to the port adds another $25 to $30 per tonne, depending on the location and characteristics of the operation. Together, the two stages can consume as much as $80 before the grain reaches an ocean-going vessel. In a landlocked country, that logistics chain can weigh as heavily on a producer’s earnings as weather conditions or international prices.

“

Border congestion means lost time, higher operating costs and less predictability for companies.

Pastore identifies the Integration Bridge as a key unfinished project. He says its approaches must be completed and the crossing must operate fully, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for both loaded and empty trucks. The package also includes opening the Southern Corridor of Ciudad del Este and completing the bridge over the Monday River. That would reduce pressure on the Friendship Bridge, currently the only major crossing toward Brazil. “Border congestion means lost time, higher operating costs and less predictability for companies,” Pastore says.

Road improvements have shortened routes from southern Alto Paraná toward San Juan Nepomuceno, Villarrica and Paraguarí. Access has also improved in Canindeyú toward the ports of Antequera, Rosario in San Pedro and Concepción. Route PY07, running parallel to the Paraná River, is expected to speed access to ports in Alto Paraná. Yet Capeco says all-weather roads remain unfinished in productive areas, especially in the Chaco, where many stretches are still unpaved. Poor pavement, potholes and repeated braking and acceleration add costs and waste time. The Paraguay-Paraná waterway remains another central export route, but Pastore says it still lacks a regional master plan.

“

The quality of the roads also has a direct impact on transport efficiency and costs. Potholes, pavement problems and the many points that force trucks to brake and accelerate constantly generate higher costs and lost time.