Brasília – The minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes, said that the foreign crisis and greater commodity prices, especially wheat, should not cause higher food prices.
"I think that, for the time being, the crisis is not directly related to prices. I do not believe that there should be a short term reaction due to the crisis," he said today (8) on participating in an agricultural hearing at the Senate.
According to him, agricultural commodities should be the last to be affected by the crisis. "People are going to continue eating. They are going to control other expenses, other commodities. Mainly iron, nickel and steel. Food should be the last item affected. The current demand should remain. This will guarantee production. Forecasts are for production to be good."
The minister added that he cannot forecast price increases due to the current "nervous market". "We cannot reason considering the high dollar values, within this nervous market. There is no logical reason for the dollar to remain at this level. It is possible that after the nervousness has passed, the dollar should reach another level. It is hard to reason like this," he said.
Stephanes added that cultivation is "practically guaranteed" and that the situation of this international crisis during harvest, over the next six months, will be evaluated later. "We are going to continue planting. If credit is lacking, we are going to supply the credit. What will the situation be in five, six months time? We must see what mechanisms to adopt. The cultivation is practically assured. The other is a future question," he added.
*Translated by Mark Ament