Faep defends maintenance of moisture content for soybean classification

The Agriculture Federation of the State of Paraná (Faep) spoke out against the intention of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) to reduce the percentage of soybean moisture in the official oilseed classification standard. For the entity from Paraná, the agricultural sector needs feasible goals and reducing moisture content could reduce the international competitiveness of Brazilian producers. Faep's arguments were detailed in a letter sent to the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA), on October 25th. The document (read the full version below) will also be sent to all federal deputies and senators in Paraná.

Mapa's intention is to establish a new Soy Technical Regulation, which defines the criteria for classifying the oilseed, according to technical parameters. In the new version, the Ministry advocates that the moisture content of soybeans be reduced from the current 14% to 13%. Faep, however, expressed concern about the proposal and asked the CNA to take a position defending the maintenance of the current humidity percentage.

"We need goals and standards that are feasible within our productive reality, and it is this point that we believe needs to be defended. It is about reconciling points of national interest, in order to avoid the loss of competitiveness of our production, which already suffers from so many other bottlenecks related to the Brazil Cost”, states the letter, signed by the president of Faep, Ágide Meneguette.

In a public hearing held by Mapa on October 30, the CNA spoke out against the reduction and then withdrew from the meeting in protest. The president of the National Commission for Cereals, Fibers and Oilseeds of the CNA, Ricardo Arioli, pointed out that Brazil has already adopted the standard of 14% moisture content for soybeans since the beginning of planting and that changing the standard would impact the weight of the product. , reducing producers’ income. Furthermore, the change would require adaptations to control humidity in the storage process, which would imply an increase in production costs.

“We will not accept this change, as the first to be deducted will be the producer and we cannot absorb this loss”, stated Arioli. “The producer who has a warehouse on the property will have an increase in the cost of drying and a decrease in the volume of soybeans to sell because the grain will be drier. As for the farmer who does not have a structure, he will send his load to the industry and the discount will be greater”, he detailed.

Impacts

In its letter, Faep detailed the impacts that changing the soy classification standard could have on producers. According to Mapa, changing the standard would be necessary to meet a new standard required by China. The Federation, however, highlighted that Brazil has absolute dominance of the international soybean market, accounting for 41% of production and 58% of world exports. “[This level] was not only achieved with price and production capacity, but also with quality. Analyzing all these factors, there is no comparable supplier on the market”, states the letter, signed by Meneguette.

Faep also classified the new standard required by China as “unattainable”, even for Brazil, which has the best average indexes, compared to other exporters. “China's commercial strategy becomes clear, as they raise the bar excessively in parameters that could economically differentiate our product, such as oil and protein content, and suggest a lower percentage of moisture. They obviously do what is best for their economy, as free importers. We should have the same stance”, argues the Federation.

From a technical point of view, Faep mentions the recent publication by Embrapa, which details the consequences that delaying the harvest could entail. Embrapa indicates that waiting for lower humidity can cause product deterioration and an increase in the incidence of pathogens. The drier the crop is at the time of harvest, the production is more susceptible to reduced quality.