Opinion Focus
ANTT set a new floor for road cargo transport. They have also implemented a new electronic inspection to ensure compliance. Border states will be the most affected by the new rule.
The New Inspection of the Minimum Freight Floor
In October 2025, the new freight table of the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) came into force, which redefines the minimum mandatory floor for road cargo transport. Although the table is updated every six months, this time an additional rule was implemented and has generated concern among carriers.
Since last year, compliance with the minimum floor has been monitored through the MDFe-e, a digital document used in Brazil to consolidate information from different invoices and tax documents related to goods transport operations. Failure to comply with the minimum freight can result in fines of up to BRL 10,500 for carriers.
In addition, the new table establishes different values according to the type of vehicle. This generated another problem: trucks with lower capacity lost some competitiveness, since the impact of the cost per tonne transported is proportionally greater than in larger vehicles. As a result, the market started to prioritise larger trucks.
Impact on the Sugar and Ethanol Market
Most of the CS Brazil mills (mainly in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and South of Minas Gerais) were already operating above the minimum freight floor and, therefore, did not face major challenges with the new inspection.
However, for mills located in border states, the scenario is different. The drop in sugar prices to the lowest level in the last five years led many producing states far from the ports to adjust their mix at the end of the harvest, reducing sugar production and directing more sucrose to ethanol, already favoured by price parity.
With the new rule for the inspection of the minimum freight floor, the trend is for this movement to intensify in regions such as Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and part of Minas Gerais. For these states, the transportation of sugar to the port (which was already economically unfavourable under current market conditions) tends to become even less viable.
Even if sugar eventually regains competitiveness against ethanol, the reinforcement of inspection may impact mix decisions even more than in previous years. This is because the increase in the cost of freight has a direct impact on the revenue from sugar.
Impact on the Grain Market
For the grain market, the difference can be even more significant, not only because of the volume transported, but also because of the long distances that are travelled from the producing state to the port.
As a large part of grain production is concentrated in the Midwest (48% soybeans and 70% corn), the long distances to ports in the Southeast and in the Northern Arc increase the losses to producers.
Unlike sugar, which already operated mostly above the minimum floor, there are cheaper freight costs for grains due to fewer loading complications in loading/unloading. In this way, the transfer of the increase in freight can be felt directly in the producers’ pockets.
With the prospect of a record soybean harvest, estimated at 176 million tonnes and with the recent start of the harvest, the increase in freight appears as a factor that can pressure the competitiveness of Brazilian exports. The readjustment should result in an increase of about BRL 40-50/tonne in transport costs.
Will Brazil Have a New Floor for Freight?
In states such as São Paulo and Paraná, freight was already operating above the minimum floor, which reduces the need for significant adjustments in view of the new rule. For sugar in general, we do not see a major impact with the new inspection.
On the other hand, in states further from the ports, the increase in the floor should be passed on to the producer, putting pressure on margins. This may impact grain producers, mainly, and sugar mills located in border states.
This scenario tends to establish a new level of freight prices and might reconfigure the dynamics of the agricultural transport market.
