Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 9.2 billion (~USD 1.7 billion) in project financing for EPR Iguaçu S.A., the concessionaire operating Lote 6 of the Rodovias Integradas do Paraná federal highway concession, to duplicate 462.4km and carry out improvement works across 662km of highways (BR-163, BR-277, PR-158, PR-180, PR-182, PR-280, PR-483) in western and southwestern Paraná, including two new urban bypasses and three bridges (Tancredo Neves, da Amizade, and a new Brazil-Paraguay crossing). The financing was structured as project finance limited recourse — BRL 8.6 billion via a BNDES-coordinated incentivized-debenture issuance (the largest of 2025) plus a BRL 605 million Finem loan — against a total EPR Iguaçu project cost of BRL 12.7 billion through 2034. BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante framed the project as the bank's second-largest-ever national highway financing (after the Rodovia Presidente Dutra) and cited improved export-corridor access to the Port of Paranaguá for Paraná and southern Mato Grosso do Sul agricultural output.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved a BRL 350 million (~USD 60 million) loan, drawn from the earmarked Fundo Clima (Climate Fund) concessional line, for rail freight operator Rumo S.A. to acquire six hybrid (diesel-electric) locomotives and at least 160 tank wagons. The equipment is dedicated to expanding biofuel logistics capacity — chiefly corn ethanol from the Center-West region — with BNDES and Rumo citing a 32% increase in annual biofuel-transport capacity (928,000 m³/year) versus 2024 volumes and an estimated 62,300 tonnes/year of CO2 reduction from the road-to-rail modal shift.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved R$1.05 billion (~USD 179 million) in support for Eldorado Brasil Celulose (J&F group) to build an 86.7km private railway linking its Três Lagoas (MS) pulp mill to a terminal at Aparecida do Taboado (MS), feeding the Rondonópolis-Santos export corridor. R$1 billion is structured as BNDES's subscription of the first infrastructure debentures issued under Brazil's Law 14,801/2024, with a further R$50 million via the conventional Finem credit line. The financing reduces Eldorado's logistics costs and displaces an estimated 50,000 truck trips per year, indirectly reinforcing Brazil's cost advantage over competing pulp exporters such as Uruguay's UPM and Montes del Plata mills.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 2 billion (~USD 340 million) in support for Rumo S.A. via subscription of the full volume of debentures the company issued to fund the first 162km stage of the Ferrovia de Mato Grosso (FMT), a state railway linking Rondonópolis (MT) to a BR-070 grain terminal at Dom Aquino (MT) with capacity to move up to 10 million tonnes of grain per year. The stage is part of a planned ~743km, five-phase FMT network connecting Rondonópolis to Lucas do Rio Verde with a branch to Cuiabá, and follows two other 2025 BNDES-coordinated debenture issuances (BRL 4.8 billion raised across three issuances in 2025) financing Rumo's Mato Grosso and Malha Paulista rail investments.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved a BRL 331 million (~USD 60 million) loan, drawn from the Merchant Marine Fund (Fundo da Marinha Mercante), to Tecon Rio Grande S/A — the Wilson Sons container-terminal subsidiary operating Rio Grande do Sul's only dedicated container terminal — to fund dock automation, new ship-to-shore and rubber-tyred-gantry cranes, electric yard tractors and charging infrastructure, and dredging works. The financing is intended to let the terminal accommodate larger vessels and cut ship dwell time, reinforcing Tecon Rio Grande's role as a Southern Cone logistics hub serving Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay trade.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved a BRL 848 million (~USD 159 million) loan, drawn from the Fundo da Marinha Mercante (Merchant Marine Fund), to Tecon Salvador SA — the Wilson Sons container-terminal subsidiary that operates the Port of Salvador's container terminal in Bahia — to fund storage-yard expansion, new handling equipment, and infrastructure/technology modernisation works. The project targets a near-doubling of annual handling capacity, from roughly 553,000 to over 1 million TEUs, and BNDES estimates approximately 1,400 direct and indirect jobs during the implementation phase.

On 30 October 2025, Brazil's National Monetary Council (CMN) approved a resolution regulating the use of up to BRL 4 billion (~USD 746 million) from the National Civil Aviation Fund (Fundo Nacional de Aviação Civil, FNAC) for below-market-rate loans to scheduled air-transport providers. The program comprises six credit lines — covering sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) purchases, aircraft and engine maintenance, aircraft acquisition and advance payment, and logistics infrastructure — at interest rates of 6.5-7.5% per year, with disbursement formalised via a BNDES contract in December 2025. Airlines drawing on the funds must accept counterpart obligations: an accelerated SAF blending trajectory (1 percentage point per year toward a 10% target, ahead of the legal mandate), a 30% increase in regional flights to the Legal Amazon and Northeast versus 2024 levels, and a freeze on shareholder dividend distributions during the loan grace period.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES is financing a BRL 3.7 billion (~USD 693 million) loan, drawn from the Fundo da Marinha Mercante (Merchant Marine Fund), to LHG Logística — the logistics arm of LHG Mining (Grupo J&F) — to build a fleet of 400 barges and 15 pushboats for transporting iron ore and manganese by inland waterway from Corumbá (Mato Grosso do Sul) roughly 2,500 km via the Paraguai/Paraná river system to the Nueva Palmira transshipment terminal in Uruguay. The vessels are being built over four years at six Brazilian shipyards; BNDES estimates the project lifts the national inland-cargo fleet by 16% and generates about 5,500 direct and indirect jobs, with 87% of funds applied in Brazil's North and Northeast regions.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 133.2 million (approx. USD 23.5 million) in financing to Coopavel Cooperativa Agroindustrial, a Paraná-based agricultural cooperative, toward a BRL 144.3 million total investment. The operation was structured under the Plano Safra framework using resources from the Programa para Construção e Ampliação de Armazéns (PCA) and Prodecoop. Funds expand and modernize grain-receiving and input-sale units in Três Barras and Céu Azul (Paraná), lifting combined storage capacity by roughly 19,600 tonnes and raising annual feed-ration output from 630,000 to 690,000 tonnes.