The costs of agricultural commodities in Brazil reached records in the first months of 2022. The prices of products are affected by economic, natural, sanitary and war factors, such as high inflation, the water crisis in the south of the country, the Covid-19 pandemic. -19 and the war in Ukraine.
The results are from a technical note prepared by economists from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), released this Thursday (28) and signed by researchers such as Ana Cecília Kreter, a specialist in national and international agriculture, and José Ronaldo Souza, director of the agency’s macroeconomic policies.
The survey also had the participation of the National Supply Company (Conab) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea/USP).
Pressured by the war in Eastern Europe, corn registered high prices, both in the national and international markets. In absolute values, the sack of the commodity hit R$ 100 in the first quarter of the year – a record in the historical series of Cepea/USP, started in 1996. By way of comparison, in the same period last year, the same sack cost about BRL 85.
“Ukraine is one of the main maize suppliers in the world and has a huge weight in the marketing of this product. The expectation is that the price will climb even more if the confrontation persists for a long time”, explains Ipea director José Ronaldo Souza.
As with corn, the price of wheat is pressured by the war in Europe, which makes it difficult to sell agricultural commodities. While Ukraine accounts for a large share of corn exports, Russia is the world’s largest wheat producer.
THE CNN, Souza said that Brazil is among the countries that most consume Russian wheat. According to him, it is the only agricultural product that the country does not have strength in cultivation and, consequently, depends on imports. In Brazil, the cost of the commodity rose almost 19% in just one year.
“Russia has a strong relationship with the rise in wheat in recent months. And this has direct repercussions in Brazil, since we are large consumers of the input, mainly for the production of pasta and bread”, said the researcher.
With the highest levels in the series started by Cepea in 1997, the sack of soy is close to R$ 200 in Brazil. This is 15% higher compared to the same period last year. The high cost of the input was mainly impacted by the lack of rain in the south of the country, which, according to meteorologists heard by the CNNwas the most intense in the last 90 years.
For the director of Ipea, the problems faced in the country with the product have repercussions on agriculture around the world. Souza cites that, in the international market, the value of the commodity surpassed the significant gains in Brazil and had a rise of almost 19% in 2022.
“The product most affected by the drought in the south of the country was, undoubtedly, soybeans. The loss of production was immeasurable and had a worldwide reverberation. Prices were influenced by heated domestic and international demand and the lower supply in South America, which Brazil failed to deliver”, highlights the economist.
The cost of coffee, on the other hand, increased by 5.5%, comparing the last quarter of last year with the first three months of 2022. However, the product registers the highest increase among agricultural commodities in Brazil when observed throughout the last year, with a 105% rise in the domestic market.
“Last year there was a lot of frost in Brazil, exactly in coffee producing places. This greatly harmed the harvest for 2022. With this, the stock getting low in our country, stays all over the world, since we are one of the main exporters of the product”, highlighted José Ronaldo Souza.
Finally, data compiled by Ipea show that the price of cotton in Brazil has risen by almost 50% in the last 12 months. Currently, it takes R$ 7.27 to buy a bag of the commodity. Like coffee and corn, the cost of cotton also registered the highest level since 1996, the beginning of the historical series.
Source: CNN Brasil
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