Insect infected rice cargo detained at Imbituba port

A cargo of 19,600 tons of paddy rice contaminated with live insects is being held on a ship at the port of Imbituba, in Santa Catarina. The “Amaliya”, which left the port of Georgetown in Guyana, docked on Saturday.

According to the port press office, an inspection by the Ministry of Agriculture identified the live insects in the shipment; preventing the start of the port operation. “The vessel is receiving proper phytosanitary treatment and must wait until it meets the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture. The phytosanitary measures determined by the Ministry are standard in the importation of cargoes of agricultural interest, and aim to protect Brazilian agriculture from the entry of exotic species into our ecosystem”, informed the port.

The name of the trading company that made the purchase was not disclosed, but, of the total, 16 thousand tons are destined to Urbano. The deal was stimulated by the exemption from the Common External Tariff (TEC) for imports of up to 400,000 tons of cereal from outside Mercosur, an attempt by the government to curb the increase in domestic prices. In the case of paddy rice, the TEC was 10%.

Urbano stated that it made the purchase because the Guyanese rice is similar to Brazilian rice. Renato Franzner, commercial director of the company, stated that the product was “properly treated” and that by November 20th it should be released for unloading. Before reaching the consumer, it will still benefit from further treatment.

More loads of rice are expected. In Imbituba, the schedule shows that the ship “Ekaterina” is at anchor with 18,800 tons of cereal from the USA. Two rice vessels are still expected for the first week of December – one with 27,000 tons coming from Thailand, and the other with 9,500 tons from the USA.

From January to October, Brazil imported 675,000 tons of paddy rice, 6.8% more than in the first ten months of 2019. Exports totaled 1.7 million tons in the period, an increase of 57.4%.

Source: Valor Econômico

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