Brazil clears way for Russian wheat imports

Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday published guidelines for local flour mills to import wheat from Russia, as the country struggles with declining domestic production of the grain in recent years.

The ministry published the decree in Brazil’s Official Gazette, effectively outlining the procedures importers of the grain will need to follow, including registering and providing documentation.

It comes into effect immediately.

Brazil is often among the world’s largest wheat importers, typically producing less than half of its 11-12 million mt annual demand. In 2016, Brazil imported 7 million mt of wheat after a weak harvest.

The bulk of the country’s wheat imports come from Mercosur customs agreement partner Argentina, but smaller volumes of hard wheat occasionally come from North America.

Russia has never been free to export to Brazil because of phytosanitary obstacles until now, as the country looks to place the results of a bumper crop.

Russia recently blocked some imports of Brazilian meats on sanitary health issues, which local agricultural leaders speculated was a way to pressure to end the delay in opening its market to Russian wheat.

Brazil harvested another poor crop of wheat in 2017 of only 4.3mn tons, according to Conab, the government’s crop supply agency on its monthly estimate published on Tuesday.