IMPROVING BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY BY TARGETING INFRASTRUCTURE

The document examines how shifting regulatory environments in Brazil since the late 1990s have created market uncertainty and diminished the quality of transport infrastructure. It highlights that high transportation costs—such as soybean transport being nearly three times more expensive than in the U.S.—hinder agricultural productivity. The authors recommend realigning auction processes for highways, returning to a vertical integration framework for railways, and deregulating public ports to restore market incentives and improve infrastructure quality.

• Since the late 1990s, Brazil's infrastructure regulatory environment has been unstable, which has discouraged new investment and harmed existing investments by preventing concessionaires from achieving long-term profits.
• Inefficient transport infrastructure significantly increases costs for Brazilian agriculture; for example, transporting a ton of soybean from a leading production municipality to export is nearly three times more expensive than a similar trip in the United States.
• In the highway sector, complex regulations and a reliance on taxpayer-funded subsidies have shifted the focus of concessionaires away from user quality and toward meeting regulator terms, leading to deteriorated highway performance.
• The 2011-2012 railway regulatory framework introduced 'unbundling' of the industry, which the authors argue has reduced efficiency and private interest in investment because rail assets are highly specialized.
• While the deregulation of independent port facilities has successfully increased capacity, the continued regulation of public ports remains a source of inefficiency.

APA

Chiavari, J., & Rezende, L. (2016). IMPROVING BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY BY TARGETING INFRASTRUCTURE. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PolicyBrief_Infrastructure_CPI_FINAL_EN.pdf

Chicago

Chiavari, Joana, and Leonardo Rezende. IMPROVING BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY BY TARGETING INFRASTRUCTURE. Climate Policy Initiative, 2016. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PolicyBrief_Infrastructure_CPI_FINAL_EN.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chiavari |first1=Joana |last2=Rezende |first2=Leonardo |title=IMPROVING BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY BY TARGETING INFRASTRUCTURE |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=July 2016 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PolicyBrief_Infrastructure_CPI_FINAL_EN.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chiavari2016improving, author = {Chiavari, Joana and Rezende, Leonardo}, title = {{IMPROVING BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY BY TARGETING INFRASTRUCTURE}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2016}, month = jul, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PolicyBrief_Infrastructure_CPI_FINAL_EN.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }