By Ana Mano SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Large food retailers in Europe have urged global grain traders to defend Brazil’s soy moratorium initiative, a pact designed to protect the Amazon rainforest from soy-driven deforestation amid farmer efforts to suspend the program. In a letter dated Sept. 5 seen by Reuters, food grocers -including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl […]
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Food grocers urge grain traders to uphold Brazil’s soy moratorium initiative
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By Ana Mano
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Large food retailers in Europe have urged global grain traders to defend Brazil’s soy moratorium initiative, a pact designed to protect the Amazon rainforest from soy-driven deforestation amid farmer efforts to suspend the program.
In a letter dated Sept. 5 seen by Reuters, food grocers -including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi – directly ask the CEOs of ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company and China’s Cofco to publicly reaffirm their commitment to banning soybean purchases from Amazonian farmers who cleared land there after a 2008 cut-off date.
“We are writing to you at a critical moment for the future of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, an initiative your companies have championed, protecting the Amazon for nearly two decades…”, the letter said, adding Brazil’s competition authority CADE decision to suspend the program in August “poses a serious threat to this vital agreement.”
The letter suggests consumers and large companies will renew pressure on traders if they don’t refrain from sourcing soy grown on deforested Amazon land.
Brazil, the world’s largest soy producer and exporter, sells most of it to China, which needs it to make feedstock.
The traders did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Credited with slowing soy-driven deforestation in the Amazon, the moratorium has disgruntled farmers for years. Eventually, farmers’ powerful lobbying in Congress pushed CADE to investigate it.
In the letter, which is also signed by Britain’s National Pig Association and privately owned food producers based in the UK, grain traders are praised for their efforts to appeal CADE’s decision.
“Even though a temporary injunction was put in place concerning the immediate implementation of the (CADE) order, action is needed to remove any market uncertainty over this time regarding the protections of this vital ecosystem,” the letter said.
According to signatories of the letter, if any suspension of the soy moratorium occurs, they expect the grain traders to be prepared “to immediately deploy an interim compliance measure on an individual company basis until a longer-term solution is secured” to protect the Amazon.
(Reporting by Ana Mano, Editing by Franklin Paul and Aurora Ellis)