Chinese company targets Brazil for soy farmland

Chinese state company Chongqing Grain Group plans to invest US$300 million to purchase 100,000 hectares of farmland to grow soy in Brazil.

The Chinese state company plans to buy farmland in the northeastern state of Bahia to produce 250,000 tonnes of soy per year.

Chongqing Grain Group intends to finalise the land purchase by June, and is earmarked to receive 60% of the costs from Chinese development bank BDC.

Brazil's farmland is increasingly being sought by foreign investors. Traditionally, buyers have purchased land in the centre-west soy belt such as in Mato Grosso, the No. 1 soy producing state. But states in the north and northeast of Brazil are being targeted by land-hungry buyers.

China is Brazil's No. 1 customer for soy exports.