China signals agreement to buy corn from Brazil

China will complete the signing of the quarantine agreement for imports of Brazilian corn and Malawi’s peanuts and soybeans as part of its grain import diversification, Li Kuiwen, a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday. Wednesday (13/7).

According to the Reuters news agency, the customs official said in May that it had finalized an agreement to allow imports of Brazilian corn, lining up an alternative to the US product amid the search for substitutes for imports from Ukraine.

The information meets the expectations of Brazilian corn producers. On Tuesday (7/12), the head of institutional affairs at the Brazilian Association of Corn Producers (Abramilho), Cesário Ramalho, said that Brazil may start exporting the grain to the Chinese market before the end of this year.

According to him, the timetable was provided by officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, who are in talks with China about approving certain types of transgenic corn. These genetically modified varieties already have authorization from the National Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio) and are planted in Brazilian crops.

Brazil exports corn to countries like Iran, Japan, Mexico and the European Union, Ramalho said, and should continue exporting corn to as many markets as possible to avoid dependence on just one buyer.

Source: Globo Rural