The Lula government authorized this Thursday, 9th, the National Supply Company (Conab) to import up to 1 million tons of rice. The PT administration cites the floods in Rio Grande do Sul as justification for the provisional measure (MP) published in an extra edition of the Official Diary of the Union.
According to the government, the objective is to restore Brazilian public stocks. According to the text of the MP, the rice purchased should be distributed preferably to small retailers in metropolitan areas, without the need for public bidding or auctions on commodity exchanges.
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The import, which may include milled or paddy rice, must take place during the 2024 fiscal year. The Ministries of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture, Finance, and Agriculture and Fisheries will define the volumes and conditions for purchasing and selling the grain.
In response to concerns from the agricultural sector, the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Fávaro, stated that the government does not intend to compete with local producers, responsible for around 70% of national rice production.
Fávaro emphasized that Conab will focus its sales on the small retailer market, and not on wholesalers, who buy directly from farmers.
Before, however, on Tuesday 7th, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had already highlighted considering the import of rice and beans. Fávaro’s boss said that the measure would be to put “on the Brazilian’s table” a product compatible with “what he earns”.
Read also: “’There is no need to import rice’, say RS farmers”
The rice agenda before the tragedy
Three days before the beginning of the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul, at an event at Embraer, in the interior of São Paulo, held on April 26, Lula commented on his regret for not having bought rice from Venezuela, considering the cheaper price under the communist dictatorship. neighbor.
“We had some hesitation,” said the PT member. “Because we should have imported cheaper rice from Venezuela. But we were hoping that, when the rice harvest started in Brazil, we would make rice cheaper.”
