Modernization process foresees demobilization of 27 units in the Conab storage network

The National Supply Company (Conab) began the process of demobilizing the storage network, one of the strategies foreseen in the company's modernization plan. The action is the result of a study carried out last year, which involved both the storage area, managers and all the agency's regional superintendencies, who participated in the assessment whose diagnosis resulted in a ranking of the units that will be separated.

The demobilization plan, which was approved by the Executive Board with the knowledge of the Conab Board of Directors, foresees less government action in places where the private sector has a greater presence in the market. As a result, 27 Storage Units (AUs) must be disconnected from the network. Of the total, 13 are in the Central-West region, with Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul being the states that will have the largest number closed, with 5 and 6 units, respectively. In other regions there will be 5 units in the Southeast, 4 in the North, 3 in the Northeast and 2 in the South.

To arrive at these indices, the UAs were divided according to their social or supply function, based on different criteria. In units with a function focused on supporting producers, parameters such as the type of product stored, average warehouse occupancy rate, production volume in the region the unit serves, among others, were used. As for supply, in addition to economic criteria, social issues that had greater weight in the evaluation were also considered.

“The measure will not affect the implementation of supply and producer support policies that will continue to be operated in the places where they currently operate”, says the president of Conab, Newton Araújo Silva Júnior. “Our objective is to intensify the company’s activity where it is necessary, in order to guarantee more efficient management of public expenses”.

According to the president, the process will be carried out in stages, but the forecast is that the units that are currently assigned to Conab will be unlinked first, which will be returned to the assets of their original institutions. In the end, the demobilization should reduce the Company's expenses by at least R$6,2 million per year, just with operational costs. Employees assigned to these units will be reallocated to other operational areas of the state-owned company.

Once the plan is implemented, the Company's storage units should go from 92 to 65. It is worth remembering that this amount does not refer to the number of properties, since the units are formed by groups of warehouses and administrative structures. Currently, the Company has 167 warehouses in operation and, with the plan, it is expected that there will be a reduction of 39.