Brazil to export corn to China in 2022

China has agreed to waive some requirements from the phytosanitary agreement signed with Brazil to allow corn exports this year, which will be harvested during the 2021-22 season, Brazilian association of corn producers (Abramilho) director Glauber Silveira told Argus.

The group was informed of China's decision during a meeting this morning in Brasilia with the ministry of agriculture and grain exporting companies. Trading firms must now seek accreditation with Chinese authorities. The documentation must be submitted by 19 August.

Brazil signed an agreement with China in May over sanitary requirements related to grain imports, such as updating quarantine rules. The agreement originally provided for exports to begin in the 2022-23 season, but on 25 July the minister of agriculture Marcos Montes said that the agreement was being revisited amid expectations of a record winter corn crop.

China will still require Brazil to prove that the cargo is not contaminated by any of the 18 quarantine pests listed in the protocol, national association of cereal exporters' (Anec) director-general Sergio Mendes said. The current crop will be inspected directly in warehouses and port terminals. For the 2022-23 harvest, a plan is being discussed to monitor the crop along the entire chain, including at rural properties.

The Ministry of Agriculture informed meeting participants that China's private sector has already requested import licenses from the Chinese government. The expectation is that some companies are already advanced in the process, but no deadline was set for the beginning of shipments, according to Daniel Furlan, director of institutional relations of the Brazil's vegetable oil industries association Abiove.

Trading companies expect to export at least 1mn t of corn this year to China, sources close to the negotiation say.

The ministry of agriculture has not yet commented on the matter.

By Alessandra Mello