SAO PAULO: The Brazilian government is mulling temporarily removing import tariffs on rice, corn and soyabeans, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The move is aimed at staving off inflation, the statement added. Prices for rice, soyabean and corn have risen recently in the domestic market. While the ministry said there is no sign of a potential shortage of these products, Brazil has exported almost all its soyabeans, and imports are expected to rise this year.

Brazil's partners in South America's Mercosur trade bloc, which are already exempt from import taxes, were taken by surprise by Brazil's move and said it could not be carried out unilaterally.

Argentina and Paraguay stand to gain from higher Brazilian soya imports, and Uruguay from rice imports, but they will lose out, mainly to the United States, if Brazil lowers its tariffs for other countries.

"Brazil cannot unilaterally change its tariffs. It has to do it through talks with the other Mercosur countries," Paraguay's Deputy Agriculture Minister Santiago Bertoni told Reuters.