On the morning of 31 January, the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, through the State Secretariat for Rural Development and Family Agriculture (Sedraf), presented representatives of the Chinese company Jiangsu World Agricultural Machinery Co. with the land that could host its agricultural equipment factory in Mossoró.

Located next to the building where Itagres - Porcelanatti used to operate, the land measures approximately 11 hectares (110,000 square metres) and has the advantage of being close to the BR-304 motorway, as well as being close to the electricity and water networks and natural gas pipelines.

Gustavo Kiguti, the company's manager, commented on the importance of setting up the venture. "Brazil and China are going through a very favourable economic period and the partnerships between our countries are very prosperous. We are getting to know the Northeast and identifying possible areas for setting up our tractor and agricultural machinery factory. From what we can see, Mossoró is a very privileged location, with a very good structure for us to open our first production unit here in the region, taking into account the family farming market and conventional agriculture as well."

(Source: Ismael Medeiros, on 2 February)