May 4, 2004

Brazil To Tighten Soy Inspections After Chinese Cargo Rejection

Brazil's government will increase inspections of soybean exports leaving southern states following news that Chinese officials had rejected a soybean cargo for containing unacceptable levels of fungicide-tainted seeds, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement late Friday.
 
Inspectors at port have been instructed to withhold export certificates for soy cargos containing seeds, which because of fungicide treatment are unsuitable for animal and human consumption, said Girabis Evangelista Ramos, director of the Ministry's Vegetable Sanitation Department.
 
The focus of the controversy is a soybean cargo of 58,000 metric tons, which left Rio Grande port on March 12 and arrived at Xiamen in southern China on April 18, according to local traders.
 
The Brazilian government also sent a warning to avoid the export of seeds within soybean lots to the Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industries Association, or Abiove, and the National Cereal Exporters Association, or ANEC.
 
The Brazilian government is keen to avoid the interruption of shipments to China, its main soybean buyer.
 
The issue has arisen at a time when Chinese crushers have been reluctant to book new South American soybean cargoes recently because of depressed demand for soymeal and poor crushing margins, traders said in Asia.