Brazil to import corn from U.S. beginning in July

After increased pressure from poultry and swine farmers, the federal government will give the green light to import corn from the United States starting in July due to record highs in production costs this year.

This is considered a strategic move by the animal protein industry, which gains bargaining power to try to flatten the prices of the cereal, the main input for animal feed – or at least to create a price ceiling in the domestic market. But the expectation is that few deals are actually carried out.

Last Thursday, the National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) approved the release of the last transgenic variety cultivated by the Americans, DP-ØØ4114-3 for human and animal consumption. This variety did not yet have the approval to enter Brazilian territory. There were only two on the list of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) without the synchrony of approvals. The other, DAS-59122-7, was released in May. Both are from the company Corteva Agriscience.

“Crossed” grains

CTNBio also updated a normative resolution that allows the commercialization of “crossed” grains naturally in crops from the planting of original events or “mixed” in cargoes in industries or on ships. The rule applies to both corn produced in Brazil and that which is imported

“What the farmer harvests is different from what the CTNBio approved, as there was a natural crossing between neighboring crops”, explained the president of the commission, agronomist and geneticist Paulo Barroso, to Valor.

Evaluating each cross would cost “billions,” he said, and would be unnecessary since only original events can be cultivated. “From a feeding point of view, what matters is the simple events released, not the grouping. We are not approving a little bit of another event that did not pass by CTNBio”, he added.

Barroso stressed that the change was not made exclusively to meet import interests, that the measure applies to other plants and animals, and that it was necessary to provide legal certainty for what was already practiced internally in the country. The rule will be valid beginning in July and should be published soon in the official federal gazette.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article, access the link below:

https://valor.globo.com/agronegocios/noticia/2021/06/16/sinal-verde-para-importao-de-milho-dos-eua-a-partir-de-julho.ghtml

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