Brazil plans big soyabean export route cutting through Amazon to save time

[SAO PAULO] Even with thousands of potholes and major cargo delays, Brazil became the world's biggest soyabean exporter last year.

Now it plans to blaze a short-cut through the Amazon forest in what would be its biggest export route for soyabean and grain, linking soyabean farms in the interior to the Panama Canal and on to Asian buyers. Ships will shave two days off their route by sailing west over the Pacific instead of a longer journey across the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

That could undercut futures prices in Chicago for soyabeans, which are in high demand in China and used in everything from meat substitutes to industrial oils.