The presence of Chinese as landowners is almost irrelevant in Brazil. The Chinese are on the balance sheet with only 664 properties in the country, totaling 10,126 hectares.
The INCRA data contain certain inaccuracies because, until 2015, land records were limited to a declaratory act of the owner. Some older records do not indicate the country of origin of the investor nor the total property area, for example. This indicates that the area occupied by foreigners tends to be larger. In recent years, INCRA has asked owners to update their information.
Evaluation The results of the mapping are not surprising for the experts. "The Chinese have never been an active buyer of land in Brazil.The Chinese investor is mainly interested in electricity, infrastructure concessions, but we do not see much land acquisition", says Márcio Perin, coordinator of the IEG / FNP Informa Economics consulting services sector, specializing in agribusiness
For ARC Mercosul agricultural product consulting firm badyst, Tarso Veloso, based in Chicago (USA) ), the foreign investor, especially the American, would like to invest in land in Brazil, but ran into difficulties. "The lack of more open legislation prevents many people from entering the country. between them to choose a Brazilian partner, which reduces the contributions. "
The entry of Chinese on Brazilian territory is hampered by the opinion of the Advocacy General (AGU) in 2010, when the Chinese group Chongqing Grain a year announced its intention to spend $ 300 million on the purchase of 100,000 hectares in western Bahia to produce soybeans.
In order to avoid a "foreign invasion" in the country, AGU decided to reinstate the purchase and lease restrictions, prohibiting international groups from taking control of agricultural properties in the country.
Last year, Michel Temer's government tried to get things done. with a proposal for land release for foreigners. The bill provided that the foreign investor could purchase up to 100,000 hectares of land for production and could also lease an additional 100,000 hectares. This bill is however blocked in Congress.
The theme is controversial and divides opinions. A 1971 law allowed foreign companies based in Brazil to purchase land in that country until 1998. The AGU had then interpreted that domestic and foreign companies could not be treated differently and had therefore released the # 39; s purchase. In 2010, the AGU changed position, thus restoring the initial agreement.
The agribusiness expects an opening to foreign investment
The fact that President-elect Jair Bolsonaro openly criticizes the entry of foreigners on national lands and opposes to the proposal does not take away from the idea of agribusiness that it is necessary to open the lands of Brazil for international capital. Marcelo Vieira, president of the Brazilian Rural Society (SRB), said the agribusiness industry expects the government to become more aware of the need to attract foreign capital to domestic companies .
"We discussed this subject a long time ago with the Congress.What we want is to reverse the opinion of the AGU of 2010, which has limited the legislation that has always been in force in Brazil We do not advocate the sale of land as such to foreigners, but instead allow international investors to invest in Brazilian agricultural enterprises, "said Vieira. "Let's go ahead in this discussion with the new government."
In an open letter to Bolsonaro, SRB congratulated Bolsonaro and reiterated his "commitment to seeking to go beyond paradigms in order to reduce the structure of the State, simplify and give more freedom to Brazilian entrepreneurs to invest, as well as allow the entry of foreign investors, with the guarantee of greater legal certainty. " 
