State of Maranhao
Port of Itaqui hit record 13.74 million tonnes of soy in 2024—northern routing saves 7-10 days to China, yet wealth flows through rather than accumulates in Brazil's poorest-by-HDI state.
Maranhão straddles Brazil's geographic pivot—where Amazon meets Cerrado meets Atlantic coast. The Port of Itaqui in São Luís handled 34 million tonnes in 2024, becoming Brazil's fourth-largest public port and the North-Northeast's leader. Soybean volumes reached record 13.74 million tonnes—testimony to the MATOPIBA agricultural frontier expanding northward.
This transformation accelerated dramatically. The Central-North Corridor now connects interior production zones (Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Piauí) to global markets through Itaqui. The advantage: shipping from northern ports to China saves 7-10 days versus Santos in the south. In August 2024 alone, Itaqui handled 3.7 million tonnes of grains, minerals, cellulose, and fuels.
The state exemplifies Brazil's new agricultural geography. Latin America's largest corn ethanol biorefinery opened in Balsas in 2024, redirecting corn from export to processing: "While exporting less corn, we're enhancing local production chains," creating downstream industries in pork farming and corn gluten meal. R$350 million in port expansion investments aim for 35 million tonnes in 2025.
Yet Maranhão remains among Brazil's poorest states. Wealth flows through the territory—grains from interior, iron ore from Carajás—but limited local capture occurs. São Luís' colonial architecture masks contemporary inequality: the state demonstrates how infrastructure can enable extraction without development.