Brazil moves to settle soybean inspection dispute with China

Talks are set to begin next week, when Agriculture Defense Secretary Carlos Goulart is due to arrive in Beijing and raise the issue with Chinese officials. The goal is to avoid friction in the relationship and be as transparent as possible with the biggest buyer of Brazilian soybeans, people familiar with the matter said.

Push for permanent solution

Brazil’s strategy will be to show which weeds are present in the country and persuade Chinese authorities that their presence in cargoes shipped to China is low or close to zero, posing no sanitary risk to importers.

The approach would mirror the understanding China has with the United States in cases involving grain impurities. Among the items recently identified in Brazilian cargoes were cocklebur and sorghum.

In Brazil’s private sector, companies are expected to strengthen mitigation plans and introduce new controls to prevent those weeds, or any other type of grain, from appearing in shipments, Valor learned.

Brazil and China do not have a specific phytosanitary protocol for trade in soybeans in grain form, unlike soy protein and soybean meal. For that reason, an agreement on the issue is seen as less bureaucratic and more feasible.

The following provides a historical overview of Brazilian soybean seaborne shipments to China, measured in Wet Metric Tons (WTMT), from January 2023 through January 2026:

Soybean Exports to China | Jan 2023 – Jan 2026 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Meeting with traders

On Monday, Agriculture Minister Carlos Fávaro met with presidents and senior executives from the largest trading companies operating in Brazil, as well as industry associations, to discuss the matter.

Executives from ADM, Bunge, Amaggi, Louis Dreyfus Company, Cofco, 3 Tentos and Cargill attended the meeting, along with representatives of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries, known as Abiove, and the National Association of Cereal Exporters, or Anec.

Fávaro declined to speak to reporters after the 90-minute meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in Brasília. Business representatives also did not respond to interview requests.

In a statement, the ministry said the meeting “reaffirmed the commitment to joint action to overcome any difficulties and ensure the high quality standards of products shipped from Brazil to international markets.”

The ministry said the aim is to maintain buyers’ confidence and meet “the sanitary and commercial requirements not only of China, but of all countries that import Brazilian food products.”

Still, trading companies and the government agreed that “zero tolerance” for the presence of any grain other than soybeans in shipments is unworkable, Valor learned.