The big four world agricultural traders and their Brazilian competitor Amaggi can make a joint application for the construction of a highway connecting the country's grain belt with northern ports, and at the same time consider the issue of investments in a parallel railway.

Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM), Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc, Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC) and Amaggi have commissioned a 10-year exploration study of the 968-kilometer section of BR-163, which is the leading cereal artery of the northern ports to which in 2018 accounted for 28% of exports of soy and corn from Brazil.

A plan with a proposed road transfer model to private investors will be presented to the government this week. The plan provides for the transfer of the road to a 10-year concession, which is much shorter than the usual 20–30-year ownership offered by other projects.

A shorter concession will be taken into account by the fact that, starting from 2025 and until the end of the road concession, grain shipped by road will be delivered in stages to the proposed Ferrograo railway line, which runs along a similar route with BR-163.