Freight price is an obstacle to economic recovery, according to Abiove

The Brazilian Association of the Vegetable Oil Industry – Abiove, assesses that the low GDP performance and the 0,4% retraction of the agribusiness sector, announced today by IBGE, reinforce the pressure on the productive sector, resulting from artificial price control of road transport. 

For André Nassar, president of Abiove, the economy has not yet recovered from the truck drivers' strike last year, which is still taking its toll on the resumption of growth. “Freight pricing is an impediment, because it created a scenario of legal uncertainty and increased operational costs, compromising the generation of jobs and income in our country”. 

With soybean and corn exports estimated at US$45 billion in 2018 and more than 1,5 million jobs under its responsibility, Abiove assesses that, at a time when the development of the economy through greater economic freedom, job creation and increased exports, it is impossible to make Brazil more efficient with this distortion in our transport market. “The oilseed processing industry has accumulated an investment of R$35 billion, but the production sector has been stifled by the freight rate,” says Nassar. 

For the entity, the solution to the crisis in road freight transport involves greater safety on the roads, improving infrastructure and simplifying contracting and not artificial price control that negatively impacts the entire Brazilian economy. Without an environment of predictability and confidence, it will not be possible to increase the volume of investments, a fundamental vector for accelerating the pace of the economy.