Brazil meat-packers should organize to avoid facing corn shortages

Demand for Brazilian corn in export markets and low inventories mean meat-packers will need to plan to avoid facing shortages early in 2020, the head of national grain grower group Aprosoja said on Wednesday.

"There could be a shortage, especially for producers of poultry and pork, if they don't organize, if they don't buy this corn in advance or enter futures markets," Bartolomeu Braz, president of Aprosoja, said during an event.

With African swine fever spurring a surge of foods imports by China, Brazilian meatpackers, who are key suppliers to the Asian country, need to prepare.

Corn and soya are used by meatpackers as livestock feed, but the amount of corn available in Brazil's center-south is poised to fall to a three-year low by May 2020.

The bulk of Brazil's corn output is planted in the first quarter and collected around June.