Corn shipments from neighboring Argentina have dominated imports into Brazil since the country was forced to import larger amounts of the grain in March, including into the distant Northeast where some analysts thought US corn could arrive. Data from the Brazilian agriculture ministry showed this week that no US corn arrived in Brazil in the last three months, even after the government eliminated an import tax on shipments from countries outside the Mercosur trade bloc in April.
Brazil imported 106,000 tonnes of corn last month, the most imports of the grain since October 2014. Around 58 percent of that volume came from Argentina and the rest from Paraguay. In the northeastern state of Ceara, for example, the poultry industry formed a group to acquire imported corn. One ship already landed and two others are scheduled, all with corn from Argentina. The association's vice president said they had studied offers from the United States but that Argentine venders had made an effort to keep their prices competitive. US corn would have cost 1 real per 60-kg bag more. Pork and poultry producers throughout Brazil have counted on imported corn to keep their operations going, after stocks were depleted by strong demand for and exports of Brazil's summer corn harvest, which is winding down.