Brazilian corn exporters face bureaucracy to ship corn to China

Brazil is still processing the documentation from firms interested in exporting corn to China, as well as preparing to inspect grain warehouses at ports, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday, September 8.

Once this process is concluded and the information is sent to the Chinese, Brazil will remove the final obstacles to be able to export, the ministry added.

In addition to corn, Brazilians are also getting ready to sell other agricultural products such as soymeal to China, a country that is already the largest importer of soy, meat, and sugar from Brazil.

“Depending on the number of requests (for registrations) and our capacity to respond (document analysis and inspections), a deadline will be set for sending the first lists (of approved companies) to China,” the ministry said to answer a question from Reuters.

The ministry also noted that corn exports to China “are already authorized” but hinge on these final bureaucratic procedures.

Companies interested in exporting corn, soymeal, citrus pulp, and soy protein to China had until Aug. 26 to submit applications for registration in the ministry’s general registry of classification.

Of these products, corn is seen as the one with the greatest potential to command the largest export volumes.

“It’s in the bureaucratic phase… These warehouses have to be inspected by the ministry, authorized and registered,” said a source in the export sector, on condition of anonymity.

According to this person, inspections are expected to kick off at Santos port, Brazil’s biggest.

The sale of Brazilian corn to China marks a historical moment in bilateral trade relations and comes as grain supplies from Ukraine are blocked because of the war. Still, Brazil’s corn exports to China are unlikely to be as large as those of soybeans, as the Chinese are also big corn producers.

The source believes it is reasonable to expect corn shipments to the Chinese to kick off later this year, but the bulk of the volumes will be seen in 2023 since most of the shipment deals in the coming months are already sealed.

Brazil’s National Supply Company (Conab) updated its grain supply and demand figures on Thursday, Sept. 8th, bringing the expected volume of corn exports in 2021/22 to 37 million tonnes.

According to exporters’ data, the country has shipped around 19 million tonnes from January to August.

Source: Money Times

To read the full original article, please go to: https://www.moneytimes.com.br/brasil-trabalha-em-vistorias-antes-de-inicio-de-exportacao-de-milho-a-china/

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