Is Billionaire Warren Buffett Buying Up Land in Brazil?
Brazilian magazine EXAME reports that America’s favorite investor is headed to Brazil.According to the report, Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest man, and his famed investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, are interested in buying up land in the Amazon and are negotiating starting an acquisition company in Brazil specifically for this purpose. Apparently Berkshire execs were visiting Brazil about a month ago checking out the area.
If this is true (Buffett’s camp has not confirmed with us yet), Buffett is, as he tends to be, on point. Just this week The Economist featured an excellent report on “the miracle of the Cerrado” saying that the rest of the world should take notes on how Brazil is revolutionizing farming.
Says The Economist:
The increase in Brazil’s farm production has been stunning. Between 1996 and 2006 the total value of the country’s crops rose from 23 billionNo question about it, Brazil is hot, especially now (both the World Cup and the Olympics are right around the corner).
reais ($23 billion) to 108 billion reais, or 365%. Brazil increased its beef exports tenfold in a decade, overtaking Australia as the world’s largest exporter. It has the world’s largest cattle herd after India’s. It is also the world’s largest exporter of poultry, sugar cane and ethanol (see chart 2). Since 1990 its soyabean output has risen from barely 15m tonnes to over 60m. Brazil accounts for about a third of world soyabean exports, second only to America. In 1994 Brazil’s soyabean exports were one-seventh of America’s; now they are six-sevenths. Moreover, Brazil supplies a quarter of the world’s soyabean trade on just 6% of the country’s arable land.
If Buffett truly is headed to Brazil, domestic businesses would have the most to gain — and could get the chance of the lifetime: partnering with Buffett. Back in July, the Brazilian government announced it was putting a limit on foreign ownership of land. So unless there’s a way around the new rules, Buffett would need a domestic partner to get the wheels in motion.
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