
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro received the best approval rating of his term on Friday, boosted by his popularity among recipients of COVID-19 stimulus payments despite the carnage the pandemic has caused in Brazil.

A sample of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen from Brazil has tested positive for coronavirus, the city government said on Thursday, raising fears that contaminated food shipments could cause new outbreaks.

A series of high-profile resignations from Brazil’s economic team have left Economy Minister Paulo Guedes shaken but committed to keep pushing for reforms in the government. The losses are also the most visible sign yet that Guedes’ ambitious economic agenda is suffering a downgrade in size and scope, although his austerity drive received a crucial backing from President Jair Bolsonaro and congressional leaders.

Brazil's National Supply Company (Conab) said the current wheat crop (2019/20) has the potential to be a record. As a result, Brazilian cereal imports should fall. The agency believes that production should reach 6.8 million tons, 21.2% more than in the previous harvest.

Brazil is amassing a record debt that has evoked memories of crises past in South America's largest economy, but some economists say rock-bottom interest rates and low foreign debt mean the government can continue to spend its way out of recession.

The governor of Sao Paulo, the state with the highest COVID-19 death toll in hard-hit Brazil, said on Wednesday he had tested positive for the new coronavirus and would continue working from quarantine.

A single BRF SA unit accounted for about 29% of COVID-19 cases at slaughterhouses in Brazil’s Parana state, according to the most recent data available, underscoring the challenges for stemming outbreaks at meat plants.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday angrily denied the existence of fires in the Amazon rainforest, calling it a “lie”, despite data produced by his own government showing that thousands of fires are surging across the region.

Brazil’s Parana state is in talks to produce a COVID-19 vaccine approved by Russia despite not having completed mass clinical trials, but it was unclear if the state’s research institute would get regulatory approval in Brazil.

According to the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein, (ABPA), in July, Brazilian pork exports (both fresh and processed) totaled 100,400 tons – 47.9% higher than in the same period of 2019, with 67,900 thousand tons. In revenue terms, the total balance of July reached US$203.1 million, a figure 37.3% higher than that registered in July last year, at US$147.9 million.