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Brazil deems truck stops ‘essential’ to keep grains flowing despite coronavirus

30 . March . 2020

SAO PAULO, March 27 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry issued an order on Friday deeming truck stops, gas stations and highway diners as essential services, seeking to ensure cargo haulers keep moving grains, feed and meat to markets at home and abroad despite the coronavirus pandemic.

States and municipalities have imposed strict quarantine measures to combat the fast-spreading disease, threatening to disrupt food production and the shipment of farm products to supermarkets and ports.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of food and the top exporter of soy, beef, coffee and sugar.

With the newly imposed restrictions, truckers were facing difficulties finding restaurants, rest stops and auto repair services on journeys across the country, Latin America’s largest economy, often covering up to 2,000 km (1,242 miles) to ship grains to port.

Lacking a strong railway system, Brazil chiefly relies on cargo trucks to move all types of goods.

Sotran Logística, a leading freight provider, said the company’s demand to ship grains, mostly soybeans, rose by 30% in March and would grow by 40% in April as the season is at its peak.

Abiove said on Friday Brazil’s road freight costs were rising due to measures to curb the virus, with part of the issue relating to truckers’ reluctance to accept making long journeys as the health crisis escalates.

Under the order issued Friday, convenience stores and highway resting points are deemed essential, as are ports, warehouses, railways and the highways themselves.

Earlier this week, at least two towns in the heart of Brazil’s farm country enforced quarantine measures that placed curbs on food processors and threatened Brazil’s grain shipment capabilities at a crucial time for farmers, who last week had a little more than 30% of soy fields still to harvest this season. One of the towns subsequently reversed the measure.

“The agriculture ministry’s order is the federal government’s response to municipal decrees like those in Rondonópolis and Canarana, that potentially would block food production and shipments of Brazil’s harvest,” said Frederico Favacho, partner at Mattos Engelberg Advogados.

Under the ministry’s order, agricultural and food processing facilities are also considered essential.

Bartolomeu Braz, president of Brazil’s grain grower group Aprosoja, said on Friday soybeans continued to be harvested and shipped to destination markets without significant disruptions.

Some 61% of Brazil’s cargo moves by roads compared with only 21% by rail and less than 14% by waterways, according to January data from the National Transport Confederation.

(Reporting by Roberto Samora and Ana Mano; Editing by David Gregorio Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Tom Brown) ((ana.mano@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +55-11-5644-7704; Mob: +55-119-4470-4529; Reuters Messaging: ana.mano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: HEALTH CORONAVIRUS/BRAZIL LOGISTICS (UPDATE 1, PIX)

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