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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 23rd 2025 - 11:50 UTC

Agriculture

  • Monday, May 13th 2024 - 10:48 UTC

    Brazil to buy rice from Mercosur countries to feed storm-hit Rio Grande do Sul

    “We're going to have to import rice from Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina,” Lula said upon announcing the initiative

    Brazil's National Supply Company (Conab) has been entrusted with purchasing one million tons of rice to feed the people of Rio Grande do Sul and avoid the intervention of middle people seeking a black market profit from the victims of the unprecedented storms. Under normal circumstances, Rio Grande do Sul accounts for 70% of Brazil's rice production.

  • Thursday, May 9th 2024 - 21:43 UTC

    April FAO food prices index slightly higher, vegetable oils and cereals climbing

    Maize export prices increased, influenced by a robust import demand amidst mounting logistical disruptions as a result of infrastructure damages in Ukraine and concerns about Brazil's production

    The benchmark for world food commodity prices edged higher in April, as higher prices of meat and modest upticks for vegetable oils and cereals outweighed decreases in sugar and dairy product prices, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported.

  • Monday, May 6th 2024 - 20:24 UTC

    Rich Chinese beef consumers are becoming more aware of traceability and Amazon deforestation

    Respondents would pay 22.5% more for Brazilian meat if it came with assurances that it was sourced from cattle raised in zero-deforestation areas.

    A survey conducted in Beijing and Shanghai between two renowned academic groups in China and Brazil, revealed that some Chinese consumers are willing to pay more for beef, provided it is not linked to deforestation in the Amazon and have a budding interest in traceability.

  • Sunday, May 5th 2024 - 12:03 UTC

    Campaign in several US states to ban sale of lab-grown “cultivated” meat

    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has banned lab-grown meat, saying he will “save our beef” from the “global elite” and its “authoritarian plans”.

    Several US states, spear headed by Florida are on a campaign to ban the sale and distribution of lab-grown or “cultivated” meat. The process of making cultivated meat involves extracting cells from an animal, which are then fed with nutrients such as proteins, sugars and fats, and they were first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022. The end product is genetically indistinguishable from traditionally produced meat.

  • Saturday, May 4th 2024 - 10:59 UTC

    Japanese PM discusses Mercosur FTA with Paraguay's President

    Kishida underlined that Paraguay was a reliable partner

    Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Friday in Asunción to strengthen bilateral ties as well as to further discuss a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Peña, who holds the group's rotating presidency, expressed in a statement his “fervent desire” to “move forward with a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Japan.”

  • Monday, April 22nd 2024 - 12:28 UTC

    Downward revision reported for Argentine 2024 agricultural exports

    “Although a gradual recovery is expected, uncertainty persists,” the BCR said

    Argentina's 2024 exports of soybean, corn, wheat, sunflower, and barley have been projected to reach barely US$ 29.3 billion, which would represent a US$ 5.7 billion recovery from 2023 but a US$ 1.7 billion slump compared to the last five years' average, the Grain Stock Exchange in Rosario (BCR) announced in its latest Guía Estratégica para el Agro (GEA) report. The new figures represent an 18% downward revision from December's calculations.

  • Monday, April 8th 2024 - 19:35 UTC

    The rule on Paraguay's fresh beef exports to US held by Congress

    In remarks before the vote, Senator Tester said President Biden, “butchered” the decision on Paraguayan imports.

    The United States Senate last week passed a resolution overturning the US Department of Agriculture rule allowing Paraguayan fresh beef imports. The next step in the process in the House of Representatives where the show of bipartisan consensus is expected to be repeated, reported the US Beef Newsletter.

  • Thursday, March 28th 2024 - 11:31 UTC

    Uruguayan rural producers affected by stronger local currency

    “Supply and demand determine what the dollar is worth,” Central Bank President Labat has said

    Uruguay's rural producers underlined that the constant appreciation of the local peso against the US dollar was detrimental to their exporting activities and insisted that the appropriate exchange rate should be US$ 1 = UY$ 58 instead of UY$ 37.5, which represents a 3.9% drop so far this year.

  • Wednesday, March 27th 2024 - 19:28 UTC

    Brazil and France sign key deals during Macron's visit

    Macron was welcomed by Lula. He will spend 3 days in Brazil on his first official trip to the South American country. He is due back later this year for the G20 Summit

    Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron launched Tuesday in Belém a € 1 billion investment bioeconomy program for the Brazilian Legal Amazon as well as for the part of the Amazon within French Guiana to raise funds through public and private investments over the next four years, Agencia Brasil reported.

  • Monday, March 25th 2024 - 20:29 UTC

    Rice harvest in Uruguay expected to generate US$ 700 million in exports

    It's rice harvest time in Uruguay, and the country expects to collect over a million tons of the cereal which is enjoying a favorable international prices prospect since the world's main exporter India, has dropped out of the market. The production of Uruguay's 150,000 hectares of rice paddies are expected to bring in close to US$ 700 million in exports this year, which will be higher than the US$ 550/600 million from the 2023 harvest.