From farm to ship: the $80 cost weighing on every tonne

For Paraguay’s soy exporters, as much as $80 can disappear from the value of every tonne before the grain reaches an ocean-going ship. In a landlocked country, the route from farm to foreign market is a chain of roads, bridges, silos, barges and border crossings, with a cost added at every stage.

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

The journey to the port adds another $25 to $30 per tonne, depending on the location and details of the operation. Together, the two segments can absorb up to $80 before the grain reaches an ocean vessel.

Pastore highlighted the Integration Bridge as a key unfinished project. He said its access roads must be completed and the bridge brought into full operation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for both loaded and empty trucks. The package includes opening the Southern Corridor in Ciudad del Este and completing the bridge over the Monday River.

With that infrastructure in place, the Friendship Bridge, now saturated, would no longer be the only important crossing into Brazil. “Border congestion means lost time, higher operating costs and less predictability for companies,” Pastore said. He argued that construction alone would not be enough. Exporters also need the complementary infrastructure finished and cargo operations running every day without interruption.

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