Brazil's agriculture minister on Tuesday defended a record number of pesticide and weedkiller approvals this year, saying the government was not “putting poison on anyone's plate.”
Brazil is considering granting an import quota of 750,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat per year without tariffs in exchange for other trade concessions, according to Brazilian officials. That is about 10% of Brazilian annual wheat imports and is part of a two-decade-old commitment to import 750,000 metric tons of wheat a year free of tariffs that Brazil made — but never kept — during the World Trade Organization's Uruguay Round of talks on agriculture.
Brazil's agriculture gross domestic product is expected to rise 2% year-on-year in 2019, compared to a forecasted drop of 1.6% this year, farmer’s union CNA said. CNA laid out an optimistic view for 2019 with positive outlooks for Brazil’s economy and agriculture policy.
Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro said “prudence” was necessary before signing any trade agreement with other nations, in reference to the ongoing negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union.
Tereza Cristina, tapped by President-elect Jair Bolsonaro to head Brazil's Agriculture Ministry, said on Wednesday the country could decide to abandon the Mercosur trade bloc if it failed to address inequality.