Brazil's BRF to lay off around 150 people from Paraná plant

SAO PAULO: BRF SA, the world's largest chicken exporter, will cut about 150 jobs at a plant in southern Brazil as it adjusts production amid a rise in feed costs, newspaper Valor Econômico reported on Tuesday citing a union representative.

The union leader said BRF's Francisco Beltrão plant, in the west of Paraná state, employs 2,400 people, according to the report.

The company cited high inventories to justify the dismissals, the union representative told the newspaper.

In a statement to Reuters, the company did not address the job cuts specifically, but said the adjustments at that facility were foreseen in its annual plan and were done in coordination with the workers union.

Last week, Brazil's government expressed concern at a possible reduction of grain supplies as heavy rains are affecting planting of Brazil's second corn, increasing meatpackers' costs.

Brazil is expected to produce 108 million tonnes of corn this season, including almost 83 million tonnes of second corn . Second corn is planted after soybeans are harvested in the same areas, a represent the bulk of domestic output.

Corn and soybeans are used as livestock feed ingredients.