The war between Russia and Ukraine has already caused an increase in the cost of production and raw materials in 70.7% of industrial and construction companies in Santa Catarina.

Raising the cost of raw materials has affected 71% of industrial enterprises in Santa Catarina – Photo: Renan Medeiros/Secom/Disclosure/ND

According to a special survey conducted by the Fiesc Observatory (Federation of Industry of Santa Catarina) and CNI (National Confederation of Industry), 52.1% of companies experienced higher than expected increases in the prices of imported inputs.

Russia is considered one of the main global suppliers of various products industry and suffers from economic sanctions that eventually increase imports.

“This situation directly affects industrial production in Santa Catarina, which depends on industrial resources from the rest of the country and from abroad,” warns the Fiesc Observatory.

Because of this, 38.6% of Santa Catarina companies said they were reviewing strategies for acquiring raw materials in Brazil, while 30% were looking for new suppliers abroad.

Waiting for normalization

Also, according to a special survey, only 24.3% of industrialists in Santa Catarina believe that the normalization of the supply of resources and raw materials will occur in 2023. On the other hand, 21.4% of those surveyed believe that this will happen in the 3rd quarter of 2022.

Higher resource prices have the biggest impact on 65.8% of respondents. Then 50% reported an increase in the cost of energy (diesel, fuel oil, gas, coal).

Another 39.5% reported logistical difficulties in transportation, such as lack of vessels/containers or higher freight prices.

Also, according to the Fiesc Observatory, the decline in industrial production due to constant pressure on the prices of resources and raw materials is also observed in other more industrialized Brazilian states.

In addition, the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the global tightening of monetary policy are also exacerbating the difficulties in the industrial sector.

Ukraine lost 25% of arable land during the war

Ukraine has lost 25% of its arable land to Russian occupation of some southern and eastern regions, despite not posing a “threat to the country’s food security,” the agriculture ministry said on Monday.

The invasions began in February of this year – Photo: Anatoly Stepanov / AFP / ND

“The structure of this year’s crops is more than sufficient to ensure consumption” by the population of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Taras Vysotsky said at a press conference.

According to AFP, the minister said that “consumption has also decreased due to mass migration.” [da população] and external migration” from the country.

Despite significant losses of land in Russian hands, “the current structure of cultivated land … does not pose a threat to Ukraine’s food security,” Vysotsky told the press.

“Ukrainian agrarians managed to prepare relatively well for sowing before the start of the war,” he added.

“By February, Ukraine had already imported about 70% of the necessary fertilizers, 60% of phytosanitary products and about a third of the fuel needed for sowing,” he said.

However, the Russian occupation of several Ukrainian regions and Moscow’s blockade of grain in the Black Sea forced Ukrainian farmers to “change what and how much to plant,” he added.

According to the international non-governmental organization World Data Center-Ukraine, there were more than 30 million hectares of arable land in Ukraine before the war.

*According to the AFP agency.