Sanity may limit imports of cocoa

Sao Paulo-The Brazilian cocoa processing go to the Ministry of agriculture, in the next few days, plead the release of new foreign suppliers of almond. Although required by the Country, the measure might bump into defence-related health issues.
Today, the national production is not self-sufficient and worse, performed the fourth consecutive crop failure in 2016. Deliveries of the commodity from 229 tonnes to 152,000 tons, a fall of 33.6% last year. Milling also marked fall of 1% in 2016 on a year earlier, adding to 216,000 tons.
"This was only possible because external purchases outside of 11 to quadrupled 57000 tonnes", says the Director of the National Association of Cocoa processors Industries (AIPC), Eduardo Bastos.
World production is mostly concentrated on the African continent and, currently, Ghana is the only supplier authorized to sell to Brazil. Swimming alone in this market, the Snake country about US $200 per tonne above market value for the almond.
At the request of the Brazilian Association of the Industry of Chocolates, cocoa, peanuts, hard candies and derivatives (Abicab), the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI) will present this data to the format of an agricultural technical note for that opening other markets-in this case, the Ivory Coast, embargoed from 2014-allows better conditions for trade negotiations.
"We''re advocating that the Brazil buy also the Ivory Coast which is the largest supplier in the world and there''s no problem. Is there a program to promote Brazilian cocoa, but that depends on climate, economy, etc. A job that will stretch for years, "explains the President of ABDI, Luiz Augusto Ferreira.
But the approval of the federal Government may not come so easily. That''s because, according to the Mayor of the cocoa supply chain Sector, Guilherme Moura, the discussion is not commercial, is defense.
This Wednesday (8), there will be a meeting to review the legislation that regulates the entry of African cocoa, (IN) normative instruction 47.
"The issue of the risk of increased 47 pest quarentenárias ticket originating in Africa, later proven by pest trap alive, not quarentenárias, in shipment of dried almonds from the Ivory Coast and internalized for milling industry yard based in Bahia", the Executive Board of the Cocoa Crop (Ceplac) last month.
Moura believes the commercial argument cannot jeopardize the recovery of culture, factor that reduces the possibility of importation.