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Brazil ag minister says auction to import rice 'not needed'

The Brazilian federal government will no longer require to purchase imported rice, Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro told a local television channel on Wednesday, after the strategy drew in flak from local farmers.

Prices have actually currently dropped, Favaro stated, including the government will continue monitoring the market. As there is no speculation, in my opinion, new auctions are not needed.

Last month, Brazil's nationwide crop company Conab canceled the outcomes of a questionable rice auction over doubts about the winners' monetary ability to honor their dedications. The federal government said then it would hold a new auction to purchase imported rice, however stopped short.

A new procedure to broaden rice production in the nation will include a choices contract which would allow local farmers to offer the cereal to the government under specific market conditions, Paulo Teixeira, minister for agrarian advancement and household farming, stated during an official occasion on Wednesday.

He likewise said the federal government will designate 2.4 billion reais in the 2024/25 crop cycle to buy farming products, consisting of rice.

In last month's uncommon auction, Brazil had actually devoted to purchase 263,370 metric lots of imported rice for 1.32 billion reais ($ 57.6 million). The objective was preventing a rate hike after historical floods in the top producing state Rio Grande do Sul, which submerged entire towns, eliminated animals and interfered with harvesting of crops like corn and soy.

According to Favaro, Brazil's Plano Safra farm credit program, to be revealed later in the day, will provide loans to boost rice production in the flood-hit state, along with in others.

(source: Reuters)